Their Pasts will Present their Future
by megarockman78
Summary: The past isn't just prologue; it's also a spectre and a game-changer. The ex-HiME just want to leave theirs behind and be normal, but will their pasts - some secret, others conflicting, others perhaps not even real - have the final say on their future?
1. Prelude

_Greetings, everyone. This is a sort of re-launching of HiME Dawn, which I found I have written into a corner and can't back out, so I've decided to start over. I'm gonna plan this one out better._

_1/9/09_

* * *

"_Natsuki?_"

"What?"

"_Mai-chan is calling you._"

"Could she have picked a more inconvenient time to call?"

"Yeah, she could have called while I'm trying to cover your ass, Shorty. Yukino, put her through."

"_OK, Kuga-san."_ A faint click. "_Natsuki?_"

"Hey, Mai, what's up?"

"_Are you around? I'm thinking about going to karaoke again!_"

A muffled snicker. "Sorry, Mai, I'm kind of out of town at the moment."

"_Really? Where are you?_"

"Sorrygottagolightsgreen." A click. "Good timing, Yukino."

"_Thank you, Kuga-san._"

A brief pause. "What was that all about?"

"What? Your face looked funny when she asked that."

"…No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was."

"No, it wasn't, or else I'm-"

"_Natsuki, be nice to Alyssa-chan._"

"Why are you taking her side?"

"_Mmm…because she has grown on me._"

Another brief silence. "…Wipe that smile off."

"_Bravo team in position._"

"You don't have to use the phonetic alphabet, you know."

"_Oh, come on, Alpha 1, what if they pick up our signals?_"

"_There is no need to worry about that possibility, Sugiura-sensei. My evaluation of the countermeasures of this facility reveals a .04% chance of our communication lines being compromised._" A brief pause. "_Is there a problem, Sugiura-sensei?_"

"_Not really, it's just really cool to see your mouth not move when you talk, that's all._"

"…_Very well, Sugiura-sensei._"

"OK. Everyone remember their roles?"

"_Yeah! Let's rock this joint!_"

"_Please temper your enthusiasm, Sugiura-sensei. You will attract attention that we do not want to have._"

"Alright. Soon as you two move, then."

A deep breath over the line. "_OK, then. We're going up."_

"_Mistress, are you sure you will be all right?_"

"I'll be fine, Miyu. Don't worry about me, worry about getting those records."

"_Yes, Mistress._"

"_We're inside the gate and ready to move._"

"Roger."

Ten seconds of silence. "You remember what I said?"

"Hands grip, line sights, pull."

"Good. So…how's school?"

"Too easy. I've asked Fumi to let me skip grades."

"What about gym? Don't think they'd let you skip that."

"I know. We'll see."

"_Mistress, I reiterate my offer to discuss the matter with Himeno-san when we return._"

"Miyu, I said already, you don't-"

A distinctive crack of a gunshot echoes from afar, followed by a cry of pain and a punch. "_Go time._"

"Stay in touch."

"_Deploying smoke._"

"_Gah! Geez, do you have to be right next to me when you launch that?" _A few moments of silence over the radio. "_Damn. Guys? Cover your ears, it's about to get loud in here._"

Alarms echo from behind the door. "We copy. Light up here's going off. Get on the other side." The sound of footsteps announcing the opening of a door. Brief but intense hand-to-hand combat, punctuated by a body slamming into the metal door. Brief ruffling of clothes. "'Kay, Shorty, let's move."

_9 July  
22:15 (UTC+9)  
Aomori Prefecture, Japan_

Footsteps echo down a staircase bathed in flashing red and boisterous alarms. "We're in. Moving to sixth floor."

"_Acknowledged._"

Halfway down the second flight of stairs. "Hey! Hold it!" Two gunshots and a scream of pain, followed by a swift kick to the face, end the threat. A moment of thought followed. "Here. Nice catch. Stay." A muffled rumble accompanies a gentle shaking of the whole building. "Was that you guys?"

"_Yeah, just another grenade._"

"_We have entered the building._"

"Roger that. If you guys get a chance, can you kill the alarm?"

"_Acknowledged._"

Natsuki beckons Alyssa. "Let's go." The door opens wide to a sterile-white hallway. The speakers come to life: "_Alert. Intruder. All security personnel report. Alert. Intruder. All security personnel report."_

"Far end of the hallway, right?"

"Yeah."

"_Alert. Intruder. All secur-"_ The alarms suddenly cease.

"_Security station neutralized._"

"Thanks."

"_No prob._"

"_We're back, Kuga-san._"

"You all right?"

"_We are fine, Natsuki._"

"I was actually asking Yukino."

"_Mou, Natsuki does not care about me?_"

Natsuki stuttered. "W-Well, it's not that I don't care, Shizuru, it's just…"

A soft giggle comes from the other end.

"_I'll be OK, Kuga-san._"

"_Kikukawa-san is a strong girl, Natsuki. I will get the car ready._"

"OK." A corner is turned and a secure door is reached. "This is it."

Alyssa moves forward. "One moment, please." She removes her backpack and sets it on the floor. With a screwdriver, she opens up the keypad and attaches a pair of wires into the system it covers. Alyssa begins rapidly typing on to a laptop.

"_Kuga-san, I have lost connection with our bug. I will try to reconnect._"

"Noted."

The sound of an opening door catches their attention. "I'll need a minute."

"I'll buy it." Natsuki shuffles over to the corner and waits for the sound of footsteps before discharging her weapon. Shouts of men alerting others to their presence dance around the ensuing gunfire. Natsuki reloads quickly. "How much longer?"

"Thirty seconds!"

"_You guys all right up there?!"_

"Just peachy, Midori, thank you!"

"Almost done!"

Natsuki nods and pulls out a second pistol, different from the first, and empties both down the hallway.

"We're in!"

Natsuki runs toward the door. "Fire in the hole!" Seconds later, a grenade detonates down the hall, rocking the building and nearly knocking Alyssa off her feet as she hastily puts away her equipment. Meanwhile, Natsuki barrels through the door into the room, waits for Alyssa to scamper through, and shuts it. Acting fast, Natsuki lodges a chair underneath the doorknob, reinforces it with a spare piece of metal, and goes to reload her weapons. She glances to her left and sees Alyssa already at work on the vault.

"_We found the databanks._"

"Copy." Banging on the barricaded door draws Natsuki's attention to the door. Attempts to ram the door down prove unsuccessful. A metallic clang from out of her peripheral vision notifies Natsuki that the vault is open. "Found it!"

"Shorty! Take cover!" Natsuki moves to the barricaded door and removes the adjective barricaded. Natsuki times the bangs and kicks the chair away to coincide with one. A uniformed guard runs uncontrollably through the door and into the far wall. Natsuki spins around the doorway and takes down the two men waiting beyond with gunfire before dealing with the first guard.

"_Kuga-san?_"

"Go, Yukino."

"_I have reestablished connection. The police are on their way to you._"

"Crap. How long?"

"_I think… eight to ten minutes._"

"All right, we need to move." She looks up at Alyssa, who is already releasing their objective from its restraints. "How much does this weigh, anyway?"

"_53 kilograms, within a 3% error range._"

"Yeah, no way am I carrying that out by myself. I'm not a weightlifter."

"_Too bad Loudmouth ain't here. She'd haul it out of here with one hand._"

"Yes, OK, thank you, Midori, for that utterly unhelpful reminder."

"_Come on, you're not going to give her at least one moment of victory?_"

"ANYWAY…" Natsuki let out a sigh.

"_Charges ready, by the way._"

"Don't light them yet. Did anyone see like a cart or something? Place this big's gotta have at least one."

"_I saw one handcart outside the security control room while we passed through it. Visual analysis asserts a 98.64% probability of utility for our purposes._"

"…Really, you can't just say 'I saw one that should work'?"

"_That is contrary to my operational procedures, Kuga-san._"

Natsuki sighs. "Whatever. Bring it up here."

"_Will do._"

"And make it fast, we only got a few minutes." Natsuki lifts her leg up, but stops herself from kicking the keypad. "Hmm, knowing them, the door'll shut and lock if I do that. Let's drag it out here." Natsuki goes in, picks up the body by resting its arms on her shoulders, and slowly makes her way out. Alyssa tries to lift a part to help. "I got this. Go outside and make sure no one's coming."

"_Wheee!_"

"I take it you got the cart?" Alyssa asks as she headed for the door.

"_Correct, Mistress. We are approaching the elevator._"

"_And she's heading into the final turn. Can she hold off the rest of- shit!_"

"What happened?!"

Two quick shots came over the radio. "_Sugiura-sensei has been struck in the right leg._"

"Can she walk?"

A clatter from the other end. "…_Nope. Owie zowie!_"

Natsuki sighs in exasperation. "You still have the cart?"

"_Yes, Kuga-san._"

"_I never knew bullets bit so hard._"

"Please shut the hell up. Miyu, put her on the cart and then get up here right away."

"_Acknowledged._"

"_Miyu-san, there are more soldiers approaching where you are._"

"_Acknowledged, Kikukawa-san. Please shield your eyes from the screen when they reach the corner._" A couple of moments pass before a chorus of men's screams echoed through the headset. Natsuki made a face of amusement through strains from the weight on her back.

"_There's a guard with a submachine gun waiting for you up here, Miyu."_

"_I can see him; he has an MP7._"

"Not good: those beat Kevlar. He'll chew you guys up."

"_73.57% probability he will strafe the elevator once we reach the sixth floor._ _Do not worry, Mistress, I will take care of him._"

"_Careful! Leg's broken, remember?_"

"_Your leg will be in satisfactory condition, Sugiura-sensei._"

A few seconds pass. Out the door to the hallway and around the corner, Natsuki hears the rapid rat-tat-tat of an automatic weapon being fired. The elevator doors open with a ding and the hissing of a released gas is accompanied by coughing, followed by a pair of bodily hits. Natsuki reaches Alyssa's position and looks around the corner in time to see Miyu delivering the knockout blow to the guard amidst smoke. Miyu turns to the two of them, then reaches into the elevator and pulls out an empty handcart before moving towards their position.

"Where's Midori?" Natsuki asks.

"She is safe."

"We're going to get her, right?" Miyu nods as she swings around to Natsuki's backside. Natsuki drops the body on to the cart with a thud. The three of them hurry back to the elevator.

"_Everyone? Police are about five minutes away._"

"Noted. Tell Shizuru we're using the backup exit."

"_I will._" Natsuki turns to see Miyu raise her hand and shoot a wire upwards. She rappels herself up a previously-unnoticed hole in the ceiling of the elevator and returns a few seconds later carrying Midori. "Clever," Natsuki notes. "How's the leg?"

"Ugh…pain's dulled out now. Still bummed." Midori lets out a groan as she is set on to the cart, on top of the body.

"You or the leg?"

Miyu releases the emergency stop button, and the elevator closes its doors.

"_Kuga-san, there appears to be four to six guards in the basement._"

"All of us in here, that's a massacre waiting to happen."

"Any ideas?"

"I got one." The other three turn to Midori, who pulls out a remote.

Natsuki sighs. "Might as well. Out of time."

Midori looks up at the display. Fourth floor…third floor…second floor.

"What are you waiting for?!"

Midori holds up her free hand to say "wait". Right as the elevator panel says "B", she hits the switch. A low but powerful rumbling rattles and rocks the elevator, which comes to an emergency stop. The group stabilizes their footing.

"Lemme guess…you overdid it?"

"Maybe."

"_Is everyone all right?!_"

"We're fine, Yukino. I think."

"Short-range thermal scans indicate two guards are in the vicinity."

"No choice," Natsuki replies, "we have to go through them. Miyu, get these doors open."

Miyu proceeds to use her brute strength to open the elevator car's doors. "We are 79.5 centimeters above the basement floor. It will be impossible to move the cart on to the ground without assistance. I advise that the immediate hallway be secured before we proceed."

"Can't you just shoot them?"

"I am out of munitions."

"How are you out of munitions? You're a walking tank!"

"Hey, bullets aren't cheap! Especially hers!" Alyssa replies indignantly.

"Yukino, can you see them?"

"_Sorry, Kuga-san. The explosion disrupted the feed; I can't see anything in the basement._"

"Damn." Natsuki glares at Midori, who makes an innocent face. "How much longer?"

"_Three minutes at best._"

"OK. Miyu, open the doors but keep an eye out for anyone approaching."

Miyu nods and proceeds to place her hands on the elevator's outer doors. Natsuki gets on her back and points her pistol right at the crack between the doors, her legs running up the side of the elevator while Alyssa and Midori's cart move out of the way. Her head is just touching the side of the cart. "Go."

Miyu slowly pulls open the outer doors. "Both guards are approaching," she warned.

"Let them come," Natsuki replies in a bad Dwarfish accent, moments before she fires away a total of five shots.

"Both have been incapacitated," Miyu reports as she finishes opening the doors. Natsuki gets on her feet and jumps down into the hallway. She runs to the corner and peers around it to stand guard while Miyu hops down and grabs the front of the cart. With Alyssa's and Midori's hands steering, the cart is slowly placed on the ground.

"_Two minutes._"

"Mistress, please stay by me. I am the only one who can move the cart, and Kuga-san must clear the garage."

Natsuki turns the corner and ducks behind a parked car right in front of the door. Behind her the rumbling and squeaking of the cart lets her know where the rest of them are.

A "Hey!" echoes from the far side. Natsuki fires in that direction and the squeaking stops just as a shootout settles in. "Not now…" Natsuki mutters.

The squealing of tires interrupts the nascent fight. Natsuki looks up just in time to see a van barrel down the ramp and strike her opponent from the side. She rushes over to the van while Shizuru exits the driver's seat. "Natsuki!" she waves.

"Help them out!" Natsuki calls as she runs past her to the fire stairwell, kicking the guard Shizuru had struck as insurance en route. She throws away one of her pistols and picks up the guard's.

"_One minute!_"

"…One, two, three."

"OWWWWW!"

Natsuki pokes her head into the stairwell, guns drawn.

"Natsuki!" Shizuru calls. Natsuki retreats to the van and gets into the passenger seat, sneaking a peak at the back to see everyone else and their goals inside. "Time to go." Shizuru puts the van in reverse, pulls a 180 spinaround, and drives out of the building as fast as the van could.

"Yukino, pack everything you can up; we have to get out of here quick."

* * *

Outside, the usually-sleepy city night was shaken to life with sirens and smoke. A police helicopter shines a spotlight on the source: a large hole in the side of a building within a compound. Police cruisers race to the scene just as a white van pulls away from the far side.

Atop one of the nearby buildings, a lone figure watches as the scene unfolds itself. There is no movement other than the wind in the figure's hair, nothing to betray any emotion or reaction other than these five words: "That's how it is, then." The van turns a corner and disappears from sight, at which point the figure turns around and heads inside. The figure does not appear to acknowledge the second pair of eyes that have observed the scene as well as itself.

* * *

_Well, there you go: the prologue to this long work. This will likely take me many months, perhaps years, for me to finish, just as a forewarning. My priority will be finishing 12 Little HiME first, but there might be a chapter or two here before i finish that._

_Thoughts? Concerns?_


	2. Secrets

_So here's Chapter 1. If this looks familiar, well, I said before this is a re-launch. I did change a lot of things, but it probably won't make itself apparent until later in the story._

_chum-sa: The prologue by itself is supposed to be somewhat confusing._

_My-HiME belongs to Sunrise._

_1/28/09_

* * *

"Mikoto! For the last time, all of this is not for you!" Everyone else could only laugh as Mai and Takumi struggled to keep the two-legged trash disposal away from the venerable banquet Mai had insisted on preparing despite many protests by others who thought Mai had cooked plenty of times already.

"But, Mai! I won't ever get to enjoy your cooking again!"

"Oh, come on, Mikoto," Akira chimed in. "You know deep down this was going to happen."

"I know! That's why I want to enjoy as much as I can!"

"Hmmph," Yuichi said with a smile. "I see why you wanted to spend so much time teaching her how to cook."

"See? What'd I tell you?" Mai ruffled Yuichi's hair playfully. "And you thought I was cheating."

"Cheating?" Nao asked, amused. "I swore when I walked by here last week, you two were enjoying the cake frosting a little-"

"Ah-da-da-da-da-da!" Mai quickly rushed over and covered up Nao's mouth before anything dirty could reach any virgin ears, leaving Takumi and Akira to restrain their _sempai_-by-physical-age. Never mind that nothing steamy or otherwise sketchy had actually happened on the day in question nor that Yuichi had been there as well to witness it; Nao was liable to divulge naughty things around ears that ought not to hear such things and generally leave Mai as embarrassed as Natsuki would be if Shizuru was around. Speaking of whom…

"Apologies for our late arrival! We ran into traffic." The attention turned to the front door, where a group of people in various jackets walked in, escorted by Kazuya and Akane.

"Ah, _Kaichou-san! _Come on in!" Mai called.

"_Mou_, Mai-san, I'm flattered, but I'm not your _kaichou_ any more," Shizuru replied.

"Force of habit," Mai dismissed with a smile.

"_Aniue!_" Mikoto's fixation on the food was shelved as she bounced over to Reito, who was behind Shizuru. (She literally bounced over to Reito: Aoi barely had time to look up from her cell phone to dodge her as she jumped from couch seat to couch seat.) "Oof," Reito said as he took on a much-grown 16-year-old Mikoto.

"You're not going to yell at her for jumping on the couch?" Natsuki asked from the kitchen.

"It's not going to do anything at this point," Mai replied. "It's like your mayonnaise thing," she added, looking at the opened jar of mayonnaise Natsuki was unabashedly scavenging from Mai's refrigerator.

"Hey! It's not a thing," she protested rather weakly as she plunked another spoonful onto a slice of bread.

"Besides, the couch is hers once I move out. If she wants it with broken springs and a hole in the seat, she can have it that way," she said, intentionally directing her voice towards the front.

"_Ara_, is Natsuki going to ruin her appetite because of her unhealthy habits?" Shizuru appeared rather suddenly in the kitchen before either one of them noticed. "It would be such a shame to waste Mai-san's cooking on something so pedestrian." Mai could only be amused as Natsuki began to protest Shizuru's usual advances. _Just like old times_, she thought. _Like we haven't aged another day._

She returned her attention to the pies currently being baked in the oven, the final touch in her grand work. With so many of them graduating high school – herself, Yuichi, Akane, Kazuya, Chie, Aoi, Yukino, even Natsuki somehow – she wanted to celebrate it with one last dinner party. Mai still had some trouble grasping that it had been two years since the Carnival, two years since they beat each other senseless all because of some stupid destiny. Now, the former adversaries had largely grown closer together, able to put the past behind them and enjoy their present. Largely…

"Mai? I'm no expert chef, but are pies supposed to smoke like that?"

"What? Aiee!" Thanks to her boyfriend's rare moment of alertness, dessert was saved. After another round of hearty laughs, the thirteen people there in Mai's apartment settled down around whatever seats they could muster for the occasion.

"Mai-san, you have truly outdone yourself."

"Yeah, Mai, this chicken's delicious. There's just one thing that would make this better…"

"No mayonnaise, Natsuki."

"Aw, but Shizuru…"

"Where's Alyssa, _onee-chan_?"

"Still has the chicken pox, I'm afraid. Sister called this morning and told me they weren't going to come."

"So have you heard anything about Midori-chan?"

"That is unfortunate to hear. I hope she gets better soon."

"Nothing since she sent that letter last Christmas that said she was mailing that thing she found to you."

"Please send my regards to Searrs-san."

"As well as mine."

"Hey, it's called a Mosin-Nagant rifle!"

"Whatever…"

"I will."

"So she's still in Cambodia?"

"So what are you two going for college?"

"Cambodia or Thailand, one of those two."

"Actually, we were able to make it in the same school!"

"Which means plenty of time for you two to cuddle, huh?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess so, right, Kazu-kun?"

"BUUUUUUUUUUURP."

"Nao! Christ, your breath reeks!"

"No worse than yours. Man, is that mayo or garlic?"

"No one insults my mayo and gets away with it!"

"Aaahh! My hair!"

"FOO-"

"Finish that phrase and you'll never have kids."

"…FOO-"

"_With anyone._"

"Oh…"

"Kuga, you-"

"Will you two stop it already?! You're not wasting my mashed potatoes!"

"Your mashed potatoes, Mai? I made these!"

"Ugh…"

It wasn't long before Nao was able to retreat to the bathroom to use the sink and wash out the food bits in her hair and Natsuki was being given a time-out, courtesy of Shizuru. As the other guests resumed their previous conversations, Mai collapsed into the empty seat on the couch after cleaning up the misses from the food skirmish. "Still the first one to jump in to fix a mess," Chie noted from Mai's left. "You haven't changed a bit."

Mai paused and thought about it. She chuckled. "Maybe you're right…Still nothing about Yukino?"

Chie shook her head. "None of my contacts has seen hide or hair of Kikukawa. It's like sometime between last night and this morning she disappeared off the face of the earth."

"What could be bothering her to make her leave so suddenly?"

"And not tell anyone?" Chie added.

"Could it be that Carnival again?" Aoi wondered.

"Dear God, I hope not," Mai said quickly. Even if it did end up bringing her many good friends, she wanted nothing to do with the impetus behind the beginnings of all those friendships. "The Carnival's dead and done," she said with finality, as much for herself as it was for Aoi.

Yes, Chie and Aoi were privy to the Carnival and all the ex-HiMEs' past powers. They had no choice in the matter: some element of Searrs that had survived the Carnival's carnage kidnapped them a mere couple of months after Shizuru and company graduated in an attempt to draw them out. It did, but boy, did they get what they wished for: Miyu and Alyssa offered their help (partly out of revenge) and the kidnappers were, in Natsuki's words, "wasted." The shock that Miyu was actually a robot and the truth behind all the strange events that took place at Fuuka Academy the previous year hit the pair hard, and for the sake of friendship they renounced their gossiping when it came to anything Carnival-related. Who would believe them, anyway? Fortunately, they haven't had to put it in practice: Searrs had not gone after anyone in the two years since. Natsuki and a couple others were skeptical that Searrs would have just upped and left to leave them happily ever after, but most of them seemed willing to not look a gift horse in the mouth. If there was a silver lining in this cloud, it was that that incident was what began the process of bringing the ex-HiME together, especially Alyssa and Miyu.

Alyssa had become quite the Academy's star after Shizuru graduated. Not only was she able to go full throttle on her academic abilities without the chains of Searrs and her original mission holding her back, but her young age and shy yet charismatic demeanor had made her the darling of the student body. Younger ones admired her for her mental abilities, older ones for her utter cuteness. She had slowly begun to come out of her shell, but she wasn't yet comfortable with taking on a prominent position like Student Council President, regardless of how much support she was getting from her former adversaries. Miyu, meanwhile, had dropped out of Fuuka so that she could focus on working to support both herself and Alyssa financially (the Sister could only provide so much beyond food and shelter, and she certainly didn't have a degree in computer science). It wasn't like Miyu was learning anything anyway.

As Mai settled into her own plate, her thoughts wandered to who wasn't there. Shiho was first, and to Mai the most depressing of the missing figures. It wasn't really surprising that Shiho drifted away from the rest of the HiME once Yuichi made his choice. She had been left alone at first to let her get over it, but the weeks turned into months, the months to years. Mai and a few others had made several attempts to reach out to her, but they were ignored. Takumi and Akira said that they had seen her occasionally when they were in class, but she never seemed approachable. Last New Year's, Natsuki and Shizuru went up to Fuuka Temple and saw her there, but beyond the cookie-cutter greetings and shallow exchange of pleasantries, Shiho acted as though she didn't know the two. Shizuru later told Mai that she still saw grief in her eyes. It was like she wanted to put the Carnival away into the past and leave it there, seeking to avoid any reminder of the pain she had. It pained Mai to see it come to this, and she was vexed as to how she could rebuild the bond that looked so promising in her first days at Fuuka. Regardless of how many times people told her that it was Shiho who had the problem, Mai still felt guilty for pursuing her own happiness by killing someone else's.

On a lighter note, Midori had developed two jobs into her career: her usual one as a teacher at Fuuka (her classes always proved popular with the student body due to her boisterous personality and mental age), and as an assistant to her professor where they would go off on expeditions to study archeological sites. Whenever the latter wasn't happening, the former would take her back to Fuuka and let her reconnect with the "Sentai". Being on good terms with Fumi helped to cover her erratic availability. Youko's office became a frequent drop-by place for several ex-HiME since Midori would usually webcam from wherever she her adventures took her once or twice a week, but she had not done so on her current trip to Cambodia. The letter Mai got last Christmas said that her cam had been damaged after an argument with one of the customs officials at the airport in Phnom Penh, but she still wondered how it could take her so long to get a new one.

And then there was Yukino. She had apparently left campus early that morning without telling anyone. The only thing she had left was a note taped to her room door that apologized for her not being able to come to Mai's party. The normally reliable Chie and Aoi weren't able to find anything that would explain why she left so suddenly, and Mai knew that the University of Tokyo didn't start classes for several weeks. The only possible indication that something was up with Yukino was her energy in finishing the last of the Student Council business before she ended her term as President at the end of the school year, and even that was circumstantial evidence at best: Mai, among others, attributed her rush to her not wishing to repeat the near-disaster that occurred the previous year. Mai could only speculate that maybe Haruka had something to do with it. Reito and Shizuru effectively reported that she was missing in action and the gossip queens' rumor coverage area didn't reach out all the way to Tokyo.

Mai toyed with the spaghetti alfredo on her plate with a fork. She knew that it would have been a small miracle if everyone had been able to reunite for this party before the majority of them left Fuuka for other pastures, yet she couldn't help but think about it. Here they were, on the verge of graduating and leaving Fuuka, Orphans, and Childs as memories of the past. Memories they won't soon forget, to be sure, but they would continue on with their lives, hopefully more normally. For Mai, it was the silver lining in the cloud of the Carnival, being able to meet so many different people and forge friendships with them. It saddened Mai a bit that not everyone could be there. It also, deep down, scared her a little. Would this drifting away trend continue? Would she end up forgetting the friends she had made, like the friends she made in years past and hadn't reconnected with? Would they forget her? Would she have to relive those…memories…one day?

Mai shook herself out of her self-induced catatonia. That's why she devoted so much into keeping in contact with the ex-HiME. It was a second chance for her, and she wasn't going to pass it up. There wasn't much point in worrying about who wasn't there at that moment. With an exhale of determination she placed her half-eaten dinner on a table, finished off her cup of soda, and stood up. Noticing that several people were finished, she called out, "OK, who's ready for some singing?!" The response was, as expected, a mixture of cheers and groans. With Akira and Takumi distracting Mikoto so that she wouldn't mess with the system again, Mai and Yuichi began setting up the karaoke machine. "Who's first?" she called as she opened the box.

"She is!" Takumi called out.

"What?! No way!" Akira shot back.

"Why don't you try?" Aoi asked Chie.

"Not unless you go."

"Do you want to try a duet, Aka-chan?" Kazuya asked.

"Well…" Akane stuttered. "OK, but which song should we pick? That last one wasn't a very good one…"

"Yeah, I suppose _Getting' Jiggy With It_ wasn't a good selection…"

Mai straightened up and looked at the two wet blankets at opposite corners of the room. "Oh, _I_ know who goes first…"

Upon noticing whom she was referring to, Natsuki and Nao looked at Mai, then each other. Both of them pointed to themselves, then to the other. "Surely you mean her, Mai," Natsuki said.

"Nu-uh, Kuga, she clearly meant you."

"She was looking at you!"

"No, you!"

"You!"

"You!"

Natsuki attempted to deflect the volley to a third party. "Maybe she meant you, Shizuru."

"Ara, I believe she was looking at you, Natsuki."

"Told ya."

"Or possibly you, Yuuki-san." Shizuru put her finger to her mouth and made an exaggerated thinking gesture. "I am not quite sure."

"Well, you two are going first, that's for sure," Mai ruled.

"Why?!"

"Because you two made a mess in my room and a mockery of my work! Now _jan-ken-pon _to see who goes first."

"Fine…" they both muttered. Meeting in the middle, the two shot for the right to delay humiliation for about four minutes.

"Yes," Natsuki went as her rock smashed Nao's scissors.

"OK, Nao, you lost. You're up first."

"Ugh…" Nao sat down in an empty seat next to her one-time roommate Aoi.

"So what song are you going to do?" Chie asked from beyond Aoi.

"The hell if I know."

"Hmm…"

"Oh, I know the perfect song for you!" Yuichi took the controller and flipped through the song list. An almost sickeningly perky tune then blared through the speakers.

"WHAT? NO!" Nao protested, standing up in a hurry. "No. Way. In. Hell." Each word was highlighted by Nao's arm sweeping across her body.

"Ah, come on," Kazuya replied with a stupid grin on his face. "It'd be hilarious!"

"I am NOT singing _Barbie Girl_!"

"Pervert," Akane muttered.

"But-"

"I don't care, I'm not doing that song!"

Finally Mai came to Nao's defense: "Be nice, guys. Let's pick a different one." She took the controller from Yuichi's hands and flipped through the song list again. "How about this one?"

Nao sighed and shifted her weight. "Better than _Barbie Girl_," she concluded, taking the microphone.

After Mai selected the song, her head turned to see Natsuki trying to sneak away without alerting anyone. She gave the controller to her brother and followed after her.

Just as Natsuki reached the door, she heard someone's voice: "Natsuki?" She turned around to see Mai. "What's wrong? You haven't looked too good for a while now."

"I don't feel that well."

"_She keeps a Moet et Chandon  
__In a pretty cabinet  
_'_Let them eat cake' she says  
__Just like Marie Antoinette _

_A built-in remedy  
__For Khrushchev and Kennedy  
__At anytime an invitation  
__You can't decline…_"

Mai stuck her arm out and leaned against the door, preventing it from being opened. "You're lying, Natsuki. You're not sick. C'mon, you haven't been around the past few months, and it's probably the last time we'll all be together like this for a long time. Even Nao's getting into it. Do you really hate karaoke that much?"

Natsuki looked away. "It's not that, Mai. It's just…I can't ignore this."

"_Caviar and cigarettes  
__Well-versed in etiquette  
__Extraordinarily nice_- NOT"

"Let her go, Mai-san." She turned around to see Shizuru in the hallway behind her. "I think it is a very important matter for her."

"Well…if you say it is."

"_She's a killer queen  
Gunpowder, Gelatine  
Dynamite with a laser beam  
Guaranteed to blow your mind  
Anytime…"_

"I'm sorry, Mai." Natsuki put her jacket on.

"Just be careful, Natsuki. Whatever it is."

"_Recommended at the price  
Insatiable an appetite  
Wanna try?_"

Natsuki didn't say a word, only nodding before she slipped out the door. For a moment Mai and Shizuru stood there, just staring at the door. "What's going on with Natsuki, _Kaichou-san_?"

"I don't know, Mai-san."

"_To avoid complication_

_She never kept the same dress  
In conversation  
She spoke just like a baroness"_

"Then how are you sure it was important?"

"If Natsuki is hiding something, it is important."

Mai turned to Shizuru. "Hiding?"

Shizuru nodded. "I can see it in her eyes. She is concealing something from the rest of us."

"_Met a man from China  
Went down to Geisha Minah  
Then again incidentally  
If you're that way inclined_…"

She glanced at the guests in the other room before turning to Mai. "Mai-san? May I ask a favor?"

"Yes, _kaichou-san_?"

"I have begun to worry about Natsuki. She is more weary than she should be for someone who is about to graduate."

"Hmm. I was going to say that it could be worry about college, but then I remembered…"

"Perhaps we should find out what Natsuki is hiding and why?"

"You know how Natsuki is, _Kaichou_. If she's keeping this from you, why in the world would she tell me?"

"Perhaps…it has something to do with me." A flash of fear raced through Shizuru's eyes.

"_Perfume came naturally from Paris  
for cars she couldn't care less  
Fastidious and precise"_

"I'm sure that's not it," Mai said quickly. "Anyway…do you want me to help you find out what's bothering Natsuki?"

"If it is not too much trouble, Mai-san. I don't want to impose another burden on you, especially now that you are moving to Tokyo soon."

"_She's a killer queen  
Gunpowder, Gelatine  
Dynamite with a laser beam  
Guaranteed to blow your mind  
Anytime…"_

"No, no, it's all right," Mai replied. "Natsuki's my friend, too. If something's bothering her, I want to help as well. What do you want me to do?"

Shizuru thought for a moment. "Could you ask Senoh-san and Harada-san to help you find out what is bothering Natsuki? I hear their skills are suited for this type of task."

"Yeah, I can hire them to help."

Shizuru blinked. "'Hire'?"

"My food is very useful as currency," Mai said with a smirk.

Shizuru chuckled. "I do not doubt that."

Mai thought for a moment. "I suppose by your asking about Chie and Aoi that you don't want Natsuki to know what we're doing?"

Shizuru nodded. "I fear that if she finds out what we are up to, she will hide even more."

"Thoroughly and discreetly. Got it."

Meanwhile, the others were all pushing Nao on as she continued through the song. "_Drop of a hat she's as willing as / Playful as a pussy cat / Then momentarily out of action / Temporarily out of gas…" _Mai and Shizuru returned just in time for Mai to witness Nao quite possibly enjoying herself on stage while Kazuya and Yuichi strummed air guitars.

"_To absolutely drive you wild, wild_

_She's out to get you_

"_She's a killer queen  
Gunpowder, Gelatine  
Dynamite with a laser beam  
Guaranteed to blow your mind  
Anytime_

Recommended at the price  
Insatiable an appetite  
Wanna try?

_You wanna try…"_

"Oh ho ho," Mai went suddenly. Nao whipped her head around to see her not two feet from her face. "All this time you pouted and moaned about my trips to the karaoke bar, and inside you actually enjoyed it, huh?" she teased.

"I, well, it's just…one of the better songs," Nao defended.

"It's OK, we won't tell anyone," Mai continued. "Wouldn't want to tarnish your reputation, after all." Her smile said otherwise. Nao grew wide-eyed while the others had themselves another round of laughter. "All right, who's next?"

"He was," Aoi said, pointing to Takumi.

"You were?" Akira asked.

"Yeah, you didn't see me get in line?" With that, he got up and went over to the microphone.

"OK, Takumi. Which song are you going to pick?"

"Already picked it, _onee-chan_." On cue, a quiet acoustic guitar began playing. Mai and Akira looked at Takumi and he went, "Yea-hea-hah…" He then looked straight into Akira's eyes. Mai squealed with glee and Akira's face drained of color when the two of them realized which song he had picked.

"_You are…my fire…"_ An orchestra of "oh!" from the rest of the crowd went up when they caught on, leaving Akira's only option to be burying her face into a sofa cushion to hide her embarrassment.

"_The one…desire…_" Mai took the opportunity to walk into the kitchen and pour herself a glass of water.

"_Believe…when I say…I want it that way." _She looked back into the living room and the developing musical torture of Akira. A small part of her felt guilty for having this much fun when her friend was evidently under so much worry. Especially Natsuki. For so much of her life, she never really had the chance to live like a normal girl.

"_But we…are two worlds apart…can't reach to your heart…" _Oh, sure, she has her personal enjoyments: her lingerie, her Ducati, her mayonnaise. But it wasn't until after the Carnival that Natsuki had that chance to enjoy the more fun things in life. It had always been either revenge or unheralded world-saving for her, and for Natsuki it had been mostly the former.

"_When you say…that I want it that way."_ She placed her glass in the sink and looked out the window, just in time to see a person on a motorcycle speed away down the road. "Natsuki…" She wasn't actually sure it was Natsuki, but who else would be riding a motorcycle around campus?

"_Tell me why-"_

"Ain't nothing but a heartache…" The sudden appearance of three additional male voices caught Mai's attention. She turned around to see Akane in the kitchen doorway.

"_Tell me why-"_

"Ain't nothing but a mistake…" Akane was waving Mai over. "Come on, Mai. You have to see this!" Behind her, the other guys present at the party had taken up position behind Takumi.

"Tell me why-"

"_I never want to hear you say…_" After a moment of thought, Mai walked away from the window. She would worry about tomorrow tomorrow. Tonight she would enjoy herself. She rejoined the increasingly-fangirling audience as a rev of a motorcycle echoed through the night outside.

"_I want it that way…_"

* * *

_I appreciate reviews. This is going to be a long endeavour; I want to make sure I do this right._

_"Killer Queen" is by Queen. "I Want It That Way" is by the Backstreet Boys._


	3. Past Promises

_Here's chapter two._

_Martial Horror: That whole exchange was sort of the point. Hopefully it becomes more apparent why later.  
Nightwing: Thank you! I do enjoy episodes of humor.  
chum-sa: Natsuki will take some time to divulger her secrets._

_My-HiME belongs to Sunrise._

_2/8/09_

* * *

"_Ugh…so tired."_ _That was about the only thing I could think of when I stepped out of the car._ _I hadn't slept a whole lot the past several nights, and getting to bed at 1:00 so that I could wake up at 4:45 doesn't really help at all. Even Mai's all-nighters were better than this: there was always plenty of coffee and I got to sleep in the next day. (Note to self: mayonnaise is not a suitable substitute for creamer.) I opened the back door of the car and pulled out the handcart. One by one I took out the boxes from the trunk, stacked them on to the cart, and brought them inside to my apartment. My new apartment. I said the phrase in my head again. It was probably the thousandth time I had said that since I got into this business. I used to not give it a second thought. Now? It's the past that wouldn't die. I suppose it is true what they say: in this business, even if you leave it, it doesn't leave you._

_Thank God I picked a place with an elevator, even it if always seemed like it'd break if I breathed on it too hard. No way in hell was I going to carry these boxes up the stairs. When I reached my place, I unlocked the door with my key and opened it. A stale and dusty atmosphere greeted my arrival, forcing me to pace to the far side and open a couple windows despite the chilly dawn air. It was silly of me not to expect this: I hadn't entered into this apartment since I rented it last year. For an apartment this small, the amount of money I had to pay the landlord in order for him to not ask why I wasn't using it (or at least sub-letting it) and stop him from terminating my lease was ridiculous. I could have bought so many items for my collection with that money. But one look at my cell phone was enough to remind myself that it was times like these that I had foregone my private pursuits. After all, what good were black lace bras if you had no place to sleep?_

_After I went back to the car to retrieve my desktop computer, I spent probably the next fifteen or so minutes setting up everything essential in my place: checking the fuse box, turning on the water, setting up the alarms, you know, stuff like that. I probably really needed only five, but I kept getting distracted by what I was going to do with the car. I was supposed to be erasing myself from the system, make it harder to get tracked; getting APB'd for grand theft auto was decidedly counterproductive to that end. I thought that maybe I could just ditch it in the flood channel nearby, but I hadn't seen any location on my way here that was secluded and obscured enough for me to pull it off._

_I eventually collapsed into one of those bean bag cushions that I had tossed on to the ground earlier. God, I was so tired. I sighed. It used to be that I did this kind of thing because I had no friends. Now I'm doing this because I have friends. It's kind of funny I guess, and I probably would have laughed at it if I wasn't so exhausted and still had things to do. I looked at the clock on my phone. 7:58. _

_The Land of Nod came beckoning, and I felt my eyelids start to gain weight. "Screw it," I thought, "I'll finish moving later." There was one task, though, that I couldn't put off. Fighting off the desire for sleep, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my old apartment's number. I waited for the third ring before proceeding to hit more buttons. With a "send", I closed my cell phone and put it in my pocket. I then adjusted my jacket which laid on me as a surrogate blanket and turned to my side to sleep, having just burned my last thread. I hoped._

_I had one last coherent series of thoughts before sleep took over: "Sorry, Mai. Sorry, Shizuru. I hope you'll understand…if I get the chance."_

* * *

"Mai! Mai!" Mai's brain barely registered someone calling her name. The fact that Mikoto was not attached to her body in any way, shape, or form that morning took a little sooner to process. Mai sat up in her bed, confused as to what could have drawn Mikoto away from her usual morning routine. She peered through her partially-opened eyelids and searched for the source of her name. "Mai!"

"Hold on, Mikoto, I'll get breakfast ready." The party last night had sapped more of Mai's energy than she had anticipated.

"No, Mai, look!" Mai finally tracked the source of Mikoto's voice to her standing at her desk, peering through the window that was above it. Slowly Mai got up out of bed and ambled over next to Mikoto to see what was going on. The drowsiness of her eyes vanished when she figured out what was wrong with the picture. Smoke was rising in the distance, and Mai could just make out the sound of sirens blaring from fire trucks. "Whoa…" was all she mustered out of her mouth.

In fairly short order, the television was on and live news feed from the fire was being relayed into Mai's room. Mikoto, having lost interest in the smoke, went off to toast some toast with the toaster (one of the first things Mai had taught her to use) because Mai was clearly sucked into the television and wasn't going to prepare breakfast anytime soon. She wasn't going to try to steal the attention away; the last time she tried that, everyone was unhappy. Mai, meanwhile, was unsettled. Not only was this the second fire in Fuuka since last night, but this second fire was bothering. She couldn't pin down why; it wasn't the fact that there was a second fire so soon after the first one that came right around the party's end at 11:00. Rather, this second fire looked too familiar. So fixated on the burning building's façade was Mai that she almost didn't hear her cell phone go off, alerting her to a text message. She picked up her phone from off the couch and flipped it open.

_From: Chie Harada  
Sent: 11-03-07, 08:11  
Yo, Mai! Hear about the fire?_

Huh. For once, she learned something before she heard it from Chie. Mai texted back.

_To: Chie Harada  
Sent: 11-03-07, 08:12  
Yeah, where is it? Stupid news people won't tell me._

"Mai!" With her question in the process of being answered, Mai turned her attention to Mikoto and a smoking toaster. "Mikoto! I told you already, don't set it at six!"

"But it was frozen," Mikoto responded. "I thought a higher number would help it go faster."

"You don't need to set it that high!" The next few minutes were spent by Mai frantically opening windows to get rid of the smoke and disabling the smoke detectors to avoid drawing unwanted attention from the fire department that Mai was sure would not be happy to hear about. At least she didn't try to lick the toaster again. It wasn't until she was literally staring at Mikoto as she made another attempt at toast that she was aware of the "incoming message" alert her cell phone was making. Slowly backing up so that her eyes remained towards the kitchen, Mai made her way back to the sofa where her cell phone laid. She flipped it open again.

_From: Chie Harada  
Sent: 11-03-07, 08:14  
What? Don't tell me you don't know!_

Now Mai was getting frustrated. She was about to type a very angry text message telling her to cut to the chase when a second one from Chie popped in. Mai opened it.

_From: Chie Harada  
Sent: 11-03-07, 08:15  
It's Kuga's place._

Mai slowly looked up to see the television continue to show the fire, and she dropped the cell phone. So shocking was the realization that that was indeed Natsuki's apartment on fire that she didn't even register the pain of her phone hitting her foot. "My God…"

"Mai? What's wrong?"

Mai suddenly snapped into action, frantically looking around the floor. "Where'd my phone go?!"

* * *

An arm flopped around off the side of a bed, feeling its way around a nightstand before the hand attached to it grasped a ringing cell phone. Its prey caught, the arm retreated to its owner's head, which lay on a cotton pillow. "Hello? Ah, good morning, Mai-san." Shizuru sat up on her bed. "No, it's all right, it was about time for me to wake up anyway. So what brings you to call so early in the morning?" Shizuru listened to the other end for a moment before her free hand patted around the bed and found the remote. She turned on the television. "Yes, I see it, Mai-san." She muted the television so that she could hear Mai over the phone. "No, I have not seen Natsuki since she left your apartment last night. Have you asked Harada-san or – I see." Shizuru's eyes returned to the silenced television. "Let me try calling her. Perhaps I may have better luck. All right, then, Mai-san. I will talk to you later." Shizuru hung up and began dialing another number while she removed the covers of her bed and set her feet into a pair of slippers waiting for her. Natsuki's answering message came on after one ring tone: "Kuga's phone. Can't take your call now. Leave a message."

Beep. "Natsuki? Could you call me or Mai when you get this message? We just found out that your apartment is on fire, and we want to know you're OK." Shizuru hung up. One ring tone before the answering machine meant that Natsuki's phone was not on. Natsuki usually left hers on even while charging, so for it to be off usually meant one of two things: either Natsuki was in class or she was out doing secretive espionage activities. The former was, of course, not possible since she had graduated. The latter was…very unlikely, yet…

As Shizuru reached the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush, her mind wandered back to that night two years ago…

_Shizuru walked out of the bathroom and saw Natsuki watching the news while sitting on the edge of the bed._

"…_Police have cordoned off a two-block radius around the compound out of concern that hazardous and volatile substances may be at risk. At this hour the Aomori fire department says that the fires on the first and sixth floors been contained, but they do not want to take any risks with an advanced research lab like this. Meanwhile, at least twelve men have been transported to local hospitals suffering from various injuries, the most serious of which include multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. At least five are listed in critical condition. The search is on for the suspects…"_

"_Don't worry about this," Natsuki assured Shizuru. "Yukino made sure the bug wiped out all video evidence, and Searrs has as much to hide as we do. They're not going to be able to chase us without killing themselves first."_

"_That's good to hear."_

_Natsuki sighed while continuing to look at the television pictures of the mess they had left as Shizuru sat down next to her. "You are sure this is the end?" Shizuru asked._

_Natsuki nodded. "I mean, Searrs could have hidden things from them – need to know basis and all that jazz – but somehow I don't think they are. Alyssa's nothing if not clever, and Searrs isn't exactly in prime condition to retaliate against us right now. Miyu told me the other day that Searrs seems to be redirecting its efforts into reorganizing its American military contacts and expanding their operations in Europe. The Carnival's just a failed project to them now."_

"_So that's it for us?"_

"_Hopefully. Doesn't look like they'll have much interest in us now that we've ended the Carnival for all eternity."_

"_And what about you, Natsuki?"_

_Natsuki turned to Shizuru. "Me?"_

"_Will you continue your search for answers?"_

_Natsuki looked away briefly before she reached into her bag and pulled out her pistol. "I meant to do this later, but you asked, so..." Removing the magazine from it, she handed the gun over to Shizuru. "I'm done, Shizuru. I've had enough of this." She dropped the gun into Shizuru's cupped hands._

"_You are giving up your quest?"_

"_I don't need the answers any more, Shizuru. I don't want them." Natsuki looked off to the side. "I have Mai, I have Mikoto, I have everyone else…I have you." _

"_And…your revenge?"_

"_Nothing to avenge now," Natsuki replied. Shizuru didn't miss the tinge of bitterness in her words. "Mai and everyone else did so much to help me out. I had to return the favor."_

"_You did just as much, Natsuki. Perhaps…more than your fair share."_

_A moment of silence save for the continuing coverage on the television passed. "Maybe. Still…it's like what Mai said."_

"_Yes, you told me. A chance to turn our connection by pain into one by shared joy."_

"_I want that too. Revenge is like lactic acid."_

"_What is that?"_

"_You know when you work too hard and your muscles begin to feel a burn? That's lactic acid building up. Your body is using oxygen too fast and so it has to use…um, other things to get energy. The acid builds up as a side effect."_

"_Are you sure that is how it goes?"_

"_Um, well, I'm just remembering what Mai told me the other day when we were studying."_

_Shizuru chuckled. "I never thought I would hear of Natsuki studying."_

"_Well, I have to graduate somehow! Bribes don't work anymore."_

"_Anyway, how is revenge like lactic acid?"_

"_You can't live long on it. I'm getting out while I can."_

Natsuki later told Shizuru to keep the unloaded gun, despite the fact that it was Natsuki's first gun before she became aware of her powers. She had kept the magazine for herself as a memento. As for the lactic acid analogy, Shizuru, being a far more studious person than Natsuki, remembered how fermentation works but didn't point out that some organisms actually lived solely on that process (mainly because such organisms were one-celled).

Shizuru gargled and spit out the toothpaste froth. Rinsing her mouth clean, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Natsuki's number again. Only one ringtone passed, and Natsuki's "I'm not here" message began playing. Shizuru hung up, worry and fear banging on her doorstep. Had she returned to that life? Did she have a choice? She had looked more content in the past two years than the previous two that she had known her. Natsuki was never going to be a socialite, of course, but she at least seemed more comfortable being around at least her friends. What would make her give that all up?

Shizuru walked out of the bathroom and dialed Mai's number. "Hello, Mai-san? I called Natsuki's phone, but it is off. I did leave a message, yes." Shizuru wandered her way to her briefcase, using one hand to open it up and search for that day's outfit while the other held the phone. She suddenly stopped looking. "I hope sincerely that that is not the case." Shizuru was silent for a moment. "I suppose it would be prudent to look into that possibility. We will have to wait until perhaps the late afternoon before we can go, however." Shizuru glanced at the television and the continual gutting of Natsuki's apartment. "I do not think being caught trespassing would be a good idea." Shizuru listened to Mai over the phone. "That sounds good. 6:30 at Lindenbaum. That should be all right. I will see you then." Shizuru hung up, finished picking out what to wear, and walked out. She would have to stop by the front desk to pay for another night at the hotel: some additional time in Fuuka was in order.

* * *

"Takumi! Watch the ball go into your hands!" Akira shouted as she witnessed Takumi let yet another perfectly laid throw slip through his fingers and bounce on the ground. She swore that sometimes he purposefully failed at simple tasks just to annoy her. All right, so perhaps catching a football was not a simple as other things, but she knew his capabilities, and this was certainly within his limits. "Better to forego a touchdown than drop the pass."

"But I don't want to get pummeled by some hulking linebacker."

"You're backing out now? I thought you wanted me to join the cheerleading squad."

"I do!" Takumi fought hard to keep the smile of amusement off of his face as he retrieved the ball and began walking back to Akira.

"I'm not subjecting myself to ridicule if I have no one to cheer for," she stated bluntly. "Now come back here and let's try this again." Takumi reached the top of the penalty box and tossed the football to Akira. "Nice throw. Let's do an out route, five steps. That way you don't have to worry about getting pummeled."

"Why?"

"They're pretty hard to defend, and you can get out of bounds fast."

"OK."

"Ready?" Takumi raised his hand and got into position. "Down! Set! Hut!" Akira dropped back and Takumi ran his route. As he turned to the sideline, however, he slipped on a wet patch of grass and fell, leaving Akira's pass to sail all the way to far end of the bench, outside the field of play. "Takumi!" Akira shouted as she ran towards him. "All you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied as he left his peculiar "two-hands-on-the-ground-like he's-doing-push-ups" position and turned onto his seat. He took a moment to catch his breath and stood up.

"You didn't see that patch of dew?"

"I did, actually." Takumi took Akira's outstretched hand.

Akira was confused as she pulled Takumi up. "So why didn't you go around it?"

"It would have messed up my timing."

Akira hung her head. "Takumi, I'd rather you see _jeté _around that than break an ankle running through it."

"_Jeté _? Since when were you into ballet?"

"Since I needed to find something to illustrate my point." She looked at the ball resting next to the bench. "So what do you want to do now?"

Takumi exhaled. "I could use a break."

"All right." The two of them walked off the soccer field and to the cooler they had left on the bench. "Which one do you want?" Akira asked as she reached inside.

"Orange, please." Akira tossed an orange bottle to Takumi while retrieving a water bottle for herself. "You're still sticking with plain water?" he asked nonchalantly.

"I've done just fine on it, thank you."

"Gatorade is so much better." Takumi took a swig of the drink, a smirk creeping onto his face.

"Oh, no," Akira warned. "You're not doing that again."

"Gaaaatoraaaaaaade…"

"Takumi…"

"Gaaaatoraaaaaaade…"

"Takumi…" Akira's rising voice indicated a vanishing amount of patience.

Takumi then moved in for the kill: "**Water sucks! It really really sucks! Water sucks! It really really sucks!!**" In English, no less.

"You know full well what I'm about to do to you, don't you?!" Akira simply could not stand the sheer inanity of that scene of that movie anymore and pounced on Takumi to get him to shut up. Actually, that entire movie was an hour and a half of idiocy; Akira swore her IQ went down about twenty points after the two of them watched it at the hospital while Takumi was recovering from the heart transplant two years ago. Unfortunately, Takumi had picked up on this particular pet peeve and loved to annoy her with it whenever he felt she was too wound up. Akira's usual way of dealing with Takumi at that point was to whale on him until he cried Uncle.

Akira had wrested the bottle from Takumi's hands and was in the midst of giving him his own little shower when the two were interrupted by a third voice: "Uh, excuse me." The two ceased their wrestling match and turned to the source, which was a girl about their age. She stood near the far end of the bench, a bookbag on her left shoulder and their football in her right hand. "Um, does this belong to you?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Takumi replied, straightening out his shirt. "Here." The girl tossed the ball to Takumi, but her aim was off by about three feet to Takumi's left; he had no chance of catching it. However, Akira leaped and hauled in the errant toss before landing on the sideline of the soccer field. "Nice catch," Takumi said once Akira came to a complete stop. "Thanks," he said to the girl.

"Oh, um, no problem," the girl replied. "Say, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Um…W-Which way is it to the administration building?"

"That way," Takumi replied, pointing down a footpath.

"Ah, thank you." With that, the girl left the two, who watched as she walked away. "Haven't seen her before," Akira commented.

"You think she's a new student?" Takumi asked.

"Probably, if she's looking for the administration." Akira turned away and saw Takumi's eyes still fixated on the girl. "Hey. You better be looking at her bookbag."

"No…" Cue vein popping on Akira's forehead. "Her braids." Akira turned to see what Takumi was talking about: the pair of braids running down the back of the girl's head. "They look kind of weird, make her look like…uh…"

"An ant?" Akira ventured.

"Yeah, like that, I guess." A moment passed after the girl walked out of sight of the two. "She seems kind of nervous, doesn't she?"

"Well, if you were getting into a new school, wouldn't you?" No response came from Takumi. "At least a little?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Takumi sipped up whatever remained of his drink that hadn't been dumped on his head. "You ready to go back out?"

"Sure." Takumi began jogging away from Akira to put some distance between the two of them.

"Takumi?" Akira called. "You want to, perhaps, give me the ball before moving away from me like that?"

"Huh?" Takumi looked at the ball in his hand. "Oh, right."

"You know what?" Akira said, coming up with a simpler idea. "Why don't we just throw it back and forth? I think we could use a break from route running."

"Yeah, sure," Takumi replied. With a windup he threw a near-perfect spiral to Akira, who had to use her ninja reflexes to catch the ball coming straight at her. Both of them stood wide-eyed. "That…was a good throw," Akira concluded finally.

"Huh."

Akira tossed the ball back to Takumi. Despite the relatively lazy arc of the pass, the ball bounced out of Takumi's hands and hit the ground. Takumi released a frustrated groan as he picked up the ball. "Come on, Takumi!" Akira shouted. "Get your head in here!"

Takumi took the ball, wound up, and threw a veritable laser to Akira, who leaped up and caught it above her head. She came back down and took a couple steps to regain stability. She looked at the ball, and then at Takumi, who was about as flabbergasted as she was. "You know, maybe you should try for quarterback instead of wide receiver," she said.

"Maybe you should try out for wide receiver instead of cheerleader," Takumi replied. "You could use your skills there."

"Well," Akira went, throwing the ball back to Takumi, who managed to catch it this time after a bobble. "It'd certainly be better than wearing some ridiculous uniform."

The two were interrupted by Takumi's cell phone going off. He jogged over to his bag, took it out, and answered. "Hello? Oh, _onee-chan_. What's up?" As Akira approached, she noticed the look of worry beginning to appear on his face."Is she all right? Uh-huh. No, that's OK, _onee-chan_, I know how much you care about Kuga-san. We can go another time before you leave. Do you want us to help? Oh, all right. OK. Good luck." He hung up.

"What's up with Kuga-san?" Akira asked.

"Apparently her apartment's had a fire and no one knows where she is. _Onee-chan _can't join us for lunch today because she's too worried."

"Ah. Do you think we should help?"

Takumi held up a hand and shook his head. "_Onee-chan_ said we shouldn't worry about it. She doesn't want to blow it out of proportion if it turns out she was out on her bike or something."

"All right. I'm sure she's all right anyway."

"Yeah, but you know how _onee-chan _is."

"True," Akira replied with a smile. "Think fast," she said quickly, flipping the ball towards Takumi. Takumi was too slow to react and the ball hit him in the face. When he recovered, Akira was already speeding away and laughing. Takumi happily obliged and began to give chase.

Unbeknownst to them, the girl with the braids was observing the pair from a hill. "It couldn't be them…could it?" she asked herself. "They do look and act so much like them. And that girl's reflexes…just like hers…"

* * *

_In case you don't know, the scene referenced is from The Waterboy. Gatorade is a registered trademark of Pepsi. (*Sigh* legalities...)_

_Please leave reviews._


	4. Inquisition

_I hope everyone had a nice Singles' Awareness Day. Just FYI, I'm still not satisfied with the title as it is, so it may change if I can think of a better one._

_Martial Horror: Just wait until later in the story.  
Nightwing: The Waterboy scene just fit for some reason here. As for Natsuki, well...all shall be revealed in due time.  
Hashkorns: Well, I sort of consider this as the improved version of Dawn. That one I found I did far too little planning and pre-writing (I'm used to being able to bang out essays for school from a cold start. Probably explains why my grades were either decent or just crap.)_

_Once again, My-HiME is property of Sunrise._

_2/17/09_

* * *

"..._All right. 8:30." I hung up the phone and looked around my apartment. Spartan, yeah, but I couldn't afford such frivolous pursuits at the moment. Not until I could feel comfortable getting off this DEFCON 2 mode that I was on. I glanced out the window to the parking lot, and my Ducati which I had swapped for the car after I woke up from my nap. I didn't need the car anymore once I moved all my stuff inside here, so I managed to find a place to ditch it nearby the Academy and walked to my bike._

_I made a quiet sigh. My bike. As of now, my last remaining string to my normal life (I'm not returning Mai's messages or Shizuru's calls because I'm not confident anymore that my phone hasn't been bugged). Even if it did jeopardize the secret of my position, I couldn't give it up. I wasn't going to give it up. My old world was going to have to drag me back into it kicking and screaming…you know, if there wasn't this prospect of dragging everyone else down with me. This life isn't as glorious as Hollywood says it is. I mean, sure, I still watch those spy action movies sometimes even if they do push the envelope of plausibility too much. They can be enjoyable. But I don't have to worry about being duped by an illusion over what it was all about. Knowing the real thing will do that. Movies show the five minutes of action, suspense, and tension, which admittedly isn't too far from the truth sometimes. They don't show the days (sometimes weeks) of preparation, the sleepless nights, the constant looking over your own shoulder to make sure you're not being followed. I know what it's like. The others…they shouldn't have to go through it._

_I idly opened my wallet and took out a picture of Shizuru and me taking a couple years ago just before she left Fuuka. It was in the student council classroom, with me in the chair and Shizuru being her usually close self with her head just above my right shoulder. I made the photo wave back and forth with my fingers. Like I needed another reason to get out of here and get back to normalcy._

_Truth be told, I wasn't eager to address my relationship with Shizuru in itself. We sort of had an agreement after the Carnival that she wouldn't press the issue until I was ready. At the time, it was the best way we could think of to deal with it. But what was supposed to be a couple weeks' wait turned into a couple months', and had now become a couple years'. No one would have blamed her if she brought it up again (I wouldn't, at least), yet she hasn't. This was all on me. I mean, I couldn't come to a conclusion. She has been my friend the longest, the one who first began pulling me away from feeding off of vengeance and towards living on something less fleeting and more substantial. But when the Carnival came around and everything came out…I don't know if I can reciprocate her feelings. She was my Most Important One, that was for sure, but the mere fact that she was doesn't mean I love her like she loves me: look at Nao or Midori. I do care for her a lot, but does that mean I love her like that? Really…I can't answer that._

_I looked at my watch. Close to 6:00. I had to go soon; there were some things in town that needed to be taken care of before my meeting. I tossed the photo on to the coffee table; no sense in risking her if I get caught. I slipped on my riding outfit, snagged my helmet off from the couch, and walked out._

_Not for the last time, I hoped. I had unfinished business in my normal life._

* * *

"Sorry to keep you waiting, _kaichou_-_san_." Shizuru turned from her just-finished slice of pie to see Mai approaching her booth from the kitchen entry point, her Lindenbaum uniform slung over in her arm. "The manager wanted to tie up some loose ends."

"What sort of loose ends, Mai-san?"

Mai reached the booth and waited for a distracted-by-cell-phone Aoi to slide over so that she could sit down. "Employment stuff, mostly. Taxes and all that. Anything new?"

"No," Aoi replied, closing her phone and taking a sip of her float. She had spent the majority of her time checking her extensive gossip network, since with her graduation she will soon move away and she had to decide which of her contacts would be useful to keep in touch with. Not that the others were less worthy to her, but she and Chie will be making new friends in college. No one gets more than 24 hours in a day, after all.

"Chie's not coming, then?" Mai asked.

"Afraid not. She's still packing her stuff up."

"Harada-san still those puts things off, I see," Shizuru commented.

"Well, she's gotten better at staying on top of her to-do list since you graduated, _kaichou-san_." Aoi took a glance at the time before putting her phone away. "So…" Aoi leaned the slightest bit closer to limit the chances of someone overhearing their discussion without making it comically obvious. "…what's the plan?"

"One of us will have to keep a look out for police or firemen," Mai said. "I'm really not eager to get into any legal trouble."

"I don't think any of us are, Mai-san," Shizuru replied.

"So, how do we do that?" Mai asked. "One of us stands in the hallway?"

"Not unless you're trying to be conspicuous," Aoi replied. "Judging from how bad the fire got, the lobby and second floor are going to be watched closely. If someone sees one of us in the hallway, it's game over."

"What do you suggest then, Senou-san?"

"There's a café across the street from the apartment. One of us can sit there and watch out for the other two."

"That sounds good," Mai said. She glanced at Shizuru's face before looking back at Aoi. "Do you want to do that? I know it'll probably be boring, but you can just walk away if we get caught up there by police. Besides, we're the ones willing to break the law to find out what's up with Natsuki; there's no reason to jeopardize you."

Aoi thought it over for a moment. "You have a point there, Mai. All right. Guess I can try to text you discreetly if they come."

"Great."

"And what will we do once we enter Natsuki's apartment, Mai-san?" Shizuru asked.

"Well, we'd first have to make sure we can move around without punching a hole in the floor; no telling how bad the fire might have burned it. If it's too dangerous, we'll have to back out. As for-"

"For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow….which nobody can deny!" The conversation was suddenly interrupted by a chorus coming from behind Mai. Mai noticed Shizuru's eyes brighten with amusement and turned around to see her soon-to-be-ex-coworkers and soon-to-be-ex-boss all lined up, with Akane holding a scrumptious strawberry cake that read "Thank you, Mai!" on it in frosting. The group then all applauded as Akane cheerfully slid the cake onto their table. Several customers in Lindenbaum also joined in the applause.

"Aw, you guys!" Mai said with a smile, completely hiding her seriousness of three seconds prior over what they were planning to do at Natsuki's apartment. "When did you make this?"

"Just now," Akane replied, "while you were in the manager's office."

Mai turned to the manager. "You did this?"

"I just organized it," her manager replied. "They did the work. We just wanted to say thank you for all the work you've done for us all these years."

"Oh…" Mai couldn't help but genuinely smile. When everyone was being this kind, it wasn't hard to hide her worry about Natsuki.

"Try it, Tokiha-san!" Kazuya urged.

"Yeah, Mai, please?" Akane practically begged. "I want to see how well I did."

"All right, all right!" Mai took a fork and cut off a corner to taste it. "Mmm! This is delicious! Thank you guys so much!"

The group dispersed soon after, though Akane took a break and remained with Mai and company. She still had another week before her last day. "No word from Natsuki?" she asked.

Aoi shook her head as she reached for another bite of the cake. "I'm sure she's fine, though. You know how she is. It'd take more than a fire to get her."

"Yeah, that's true. Still…"

"Don't worry, Akane," Mai assured her. "We'll find out what's going on."

"All right, all right." Akane released her tension and slumped a bit in her seat. "Is there anything I can do to help, though?"

"Perhaps get us out of trouble if we fall into it, Higurashi-san," Shizuru suggested half-jokingly.

"W-Well, something like that…hopefully that won't be necessary." Everyone chuckled, though it was a quiet one, partly out of wanting to not draw attention, partly because, much as they wanted to play it off as a fun excursion, none of them were naïve enough to not consider Natsuki's history. It wasn't the first time Natsuki had gone MIA by any means, nor was this a long time for Natsuki disappearances (the record in the two years since the end of the Carnival was about two weeks), but it was the occurrence of the fire at her apartment so soon after she disappeared that caused Mai and Shizuru to be concerned enough to share them with Aoi and Akane.

Shizuru took a glance of her watch. "Is it time to go soon, _kaichou-san_?" Akane asked.

Shizuru nodded. "We will need time to reach Natsuki's apartment."

The four of them got up. "Akane, can you pack up the rest of this cake for me?" Mai asked. "I bet Mikoto will want some later."

"Sure thing, Mai."

The other two had put their jackets on and were waiting on Mai. "Anyone need to use the bathroom?" Aoi asked. Mai and Shizuru shook their heads.

There was a brief pause after everyone had dressed to go. "Well," Akane said finally. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Mai replied. Aoi and Shizuru nodded in appreciation. "I'll call you when we're done. If we don't get back before you get off work, please get the cake to Mikoto."

"OK, Mai."

* * *

"Yes, Mom, everything's packed away and in storage. I'll call a taxi in the morning."

"_All right, then. Do you know where your room will be next year?"_

"Not yet. The administration mails our new assignments in a couple days or so, though, so I think I'll know pretty soon."

"_But you will remain in the girls' dorm?_"

"Well, considering that the only other dorm here is all boys…"

"_Oh, right, right, I forgot. Will your roommate stay with you as well?_"

"Aoi's graduating, Mom."

"_Agh. I've missed out on more than I thought._" A chuckle came over the phone.

Nao just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I told you that last week."

"_Right, right. Well, my shift starts soon. I'll probably be sleeping when you get home. You have a key, right?_"

Nao briefly searched her pocket. "Yeah, I got it."

"_OK, then, Nao. I'll see you tomorrow._"

"Bye, Mom." Nao hung up and tossed her phone onto her bed, the only thing still untouched from the end-of-year packing. The phone landed next to a note from Aoi that said she was out with Mai.

Things had changed for Nao since the Carnival. The biggest, of course, was her mother emerging from her coma about nine months ago. The purple-haired pseudo-cripple's Big Reset brought her mother back to life; time brought her back to the world. Nao was actually there for it on one of her near-daily hospital visits at Fuuka Medical Center; once her childlike reaction of joy was known, anyone outside of the ex-HiME who didn't know what Nao was really like might have asked who she was and what they've done with Nao. Within the ex-HiME group, people had varying reactions to the news. Mai and a quick-forgiving Takumi were openly happy for her, as had the Sister. Natsuki had simply smiled and said "That's great", apparently taking the Takumi approach and being content that another one of them didn't have to be motherless. Fujino and Akira were…more complicated.

Nao was still Nao, but her life had started to meander its own way back towards some semblance of normalcy. A life touched (perhaps "jolted" might be a better word) by the Carnival would never return to what it once was, but even scars have their angle of beauty. She was still pretty blunt and sarcastic, but rarely now did her demeanor make others truly despise her (whether this was a result of others being more tolerant of Nao or vice versa is uncertain). Nao was never going to be a socialite by anyone's standards, but Aoi had noted that Nao gradually began to make small talk more frequently whenever the two happened to be in their room. While Nao still went on the occasional pedo-hunt, they had become less and less frequent, partly out of her mother's presence, partly out of the need to maintain good grades as part of the scholarship deal offered by the Director, partly out of lack of access to her Claws of Doom and Julia.

"_Julia…_" Nao thought as she went to her closet and began flipping through the few remaining clothes hanging there. She did miss her Child occasionally. The feeling of power that she had knowing that the disgusting thing she was out on a date with had no chance of getting out was empowering, even intoxicating. But the Carnival had its effects. A series of private talks with Sister Yukariko, Natsuki, Mai, and Aoi had narrowed her from a categorical hate of all men to a focused disdain on pedophiles. She knew Aoi out of habit would almost always break her promise of not telling anyone, but she never got more than a little miffed so long as the receiving end was one of the other three.

Nao eventually found out her old junior high uniform and began putting it on. The change in her object of hatred didn't stop her prowls, but it did change her hunting habits; on a few occasions she had discerned that her prey wasn't a true pedophile and was going out with her for different reasons ranging from confusion to desperation, at which point she would either let him go with a warning or they simply parted ways with a "Thanks for the evening" and she would move on. Natsuki once quipped that she had gotten soft, at which point Nao threw her bento lunch at her, but she had to admit to herself that the wolf had a point. Granted, part of the reason was her being forced to widen her search because she no longer had her ace in the hole, but she still found herself more capable of empathy, perish the thought.

Nao took a look of herself in the mirror. Save for the uniform being a little too small for her, Nao looked pretty much as she did two years ago. With a final straightening of her hair, Nao walked out the door and to her next target. She may have her scholarship, but who couldn't use some extra cash?

* * *

Shizuru turned the doorknob through the police tape and sent the door open. All in all, Natsuki's apartment didn't look as bad as the two had feared it would be. It certainly wouldn't be considered livable except by the desperate, but, at least at first glance, it at least looked like a salvageable situation. Still, Shizuru wasn't taking chances. She slipped underneath the plastic tape crisscrossing the doorway and made her way into the room, taking one cautious step at a time. Her hand held a flashlight which was covered in red cellophane in order to minimize the chances of the light drawing attention from the street (a suggestion by Aoi as a much cheaper alternative to night-vision goggles which would probably set them back at least 30,000 yen, not to mention that they didn't have time to shop for one). Mai followed Shizuru into the room with a penlight of her own. The pair took a few tentative steps to establish that they weren't about to fall through to the first floor. Once they felt safe enough, they looked around the apartment in greater detail.

Natsuki's apartment consisted of two rooms: a combined kitchen/living area and a separate bedroom. Mai searched the former, Shizuru the latter, both of them trying to figure out how the fire could have cleaned out Natsuki's place so thoroughly, yet was not strong enough to (so far) jeopardize the structural integrity of the whole building.

"Very strange," Shizuru said loud enough for Mai to hear. "Where is Natsuki's lingerie?"

Mai turned her attention to the apartment door. "Nee, _kaichou-san_?" Mai called out. "I think someone was here when the fire broke out."

"What makes you think that, Mai-san?"

"This." Shizuru walked out of the bedroom and towards Mai, who was pointing her light at the base of the door. "You see that?" she asked when Shizuru came close.

Shizuru looked where Mai was pointing. "It looks like a towel. Or, what remains of it."

"All folded up and positioned right around where the bottom of the door would be," Mai added.

"Perhaps Natsuki was here when the fire broke out," Shizuru said. "That is one thing you are supposed to do when there is a fire, is it not?"

Mai furrowed her brow. "Only if the fire is outside your room. A wet towel stuffed under the door like is supposed to absorb the smoke and heat. It'd be useless if the fire's already inside."

Shizuru thought for a moment. "Yes, that would make sense."

Mai looked up and looked into the distance. "What did you say before about lingerie?"

Shizuru looked up. "I can find no remains of Natsuki's collection."

"I'm guessing you know what to look for."

"Yes," Shizuru said simply.

"And there's nothing?"

Shizuru shook her head. "Not even charred remains of just one of them. It's like Natsuki moved them out before the fire."

Mai looked back at Shizuru. "You think she knew this was coming?"

The conversation was interrupted by what sounded like shattering glass, followed by a rising commotion from outside. "What was that?" Mai asked.

"An accident?" Shizuru suggested. The two hurried to the window.

* * *

Nao emerged from a back alley, thumbing through her latest booty (poor bastard thought he was going to be getting some instead of giving it). Twenty-one thousand yen was not that bad for a night's work. It was especially nice since she didn't have tests to worry about until April, so she could just spend the rest of the night on the town as she pleased. Perhaps she should cap off her studies with a round of beer, especially without that crazy teacher around to ruin the fun. Or blow it off at the arcades. Maybe she should save it for a nice dinner with Mother, assuming she doesn't get called by the hospital for emergency duty again.

While Nao was debating her options on her next move, she caught sight of Natsuki leaving a bar on the far side of the street and walking out, trying to act all nonchalant but clearly to the trained eye of Nao was on business. "Interesting…" she said to herself as she saw Natsuki begin to walk away. Her hand hovered above her pocket and she had a brief thought about sending a text message to Aoi or Mai about the sighting, but it stopped when all her attention was drawn to what came next: a pair of men who had up to this point been loitering around the entrance to the bar had begun to walk off in the same direction as Natsuki. Nao raised an eyebrow, the thought of letting someone know had left her mind, and she became curious as to where this would lead. Nao knew how she would handle that sort of thing, but wanted to know how Natsuki would.

Nao quietly trailed the two men, who in turn were indeed following Natsuki as she had suspected. Natsuki herself did not give any indication that she knew she was being followed, only continuing on with her walk. This procession continued for one block, then two blocks, then three. Nao had begun to grow bored and her hand again reached for her cell phone, but then Natsuki turned into a side alley. Soon after, the two men followed her in, and a white van pulled up near the entrance to the alley. That brought Nao's curiosity back, and she gradually approached the scene, trying her best to blend into the crowd. While en route, the driver of the van exited the vehicle and leaned against the door, apparently waiting for something.

Nao's eyes shifted from the van to the alley. "Hmm…" she thought to herself. "Kuga's going to be in some trouble soon. Maybe I should stick around in case her ass needs bailing." Her eyes scanned the scene in front her as she made a pass at the entrance: a moderately busy Saturday evening with people walking back and forth, checking out the shops and such. The two men following Natsuki had their backs to the street, while on the far side Nao could make out one or two more approaching. "Bad move," Nao scolded to Natsuki in her mind. "You ought to know better than to walk where there's only one exit." The white van that had pulled up kind of stood out mainly because of its conspicuousness despite its inconspicuous-intent of a paint job. The man leaning against the van-

Nao suddenly doubled over upon getting her first good look at the driver, a brief but sharp pain racing through her head. Utterly confused as to why, she looked at the driver again. Then the memories came flooding back…

"_Mama!"_

"_Out of the way, kid."_

"_No! Let me go!"_

"_No chance in hell."_

"_Nao! Run!"_

"_Mama!"_

"_What about the kid?"_

"_We'll do the brat after the bitch. C'mon, let's get the fun going."_

"_Run! Aah!"_

"_Quiet!"_

"_Run!"_

"_I said shut up!"_

"_Ugh…Nao…go…"_

Nao's lungs could barely register and tell her brain that she was hyperventilating. Her eyes could barely register and tell her brain that her vision was beginning to tunnel. Her fingers could barely register and tell her brain of the cool touch of the metal streetlamp that her hand was resting on for support. Her ears could barely register and tell her brain about the voice of a bystander: "Hey, Miss, are you all right?" For her brain was focused on one image and one image only: the image of the man who led the assault that sent her mother into a coma all those years ago. The image of the man who had stolen her childhood innocence. The image of the man that had seared itself into Nao's memory for eternity.

The image of the man that matched the very one leaning against the van at that moment.

For Nao, there was only one response for that. A response that could deliver five years' worth of rage and anger.

* * *

_Again, I appreciate reviews._


	5. Savior

_I haven't forgotten about 12LH. I just had this rush of ideas for this one, so this came out first._

_Martial Horror: Thanks about Nao. I hope I can develop the other characters as well as her._

_Again, My-HiME belongs to Sunrise._

_2/26/09_

* * *

Natsuki's gamble had failed. She had hoped that she could have just sprinted down the alley and lose her followers, but with two men in front of her and another two behind her, she was trapped. Her eyes darted around the scene, assessing her situation. No fire escapes were available for her to use (both buildings on either side were too new and had their fire escape routes integrated into the buildings themselves). The alley was fairly narrow, probably too narrow for her to try and go around one of the pairs. Over the hum of the Saturday night activity buzzing, Natsuki had heard the faint crackling of a stun gun in a hand of one of the men behind her. Her options were fading fast. She needed an opening.

Fate answered her silent plea. The sound of a shattering window from behind Natsuki drew everyone's attention. Natsuki turned around quickly to see Nao, who appeared to be delivering rabbit punches to some poor schmuck whose head had been run through the driver side window of a white van. The two men who had been tailing Natsuki previously turned around and as they reached their comrade, she caught sight of the stun gun she thought was there in one of the men's hand. "Nao!" she shouted in warning.

Nao turned around just in time to see the man administer a 250 kilovolt dose of electricity into her side. She cried out in pain for a second or so before Natsuki was able to shove away her assailants and stop the shock. The stun gun had been applied long enough to send Nao to the ground, unable to control her spastic muscles. Nao was just able to open her eyes and look up to see Natsuki fending off the men on the sidewalk. She struggled to get up, doing so slowly and using the front of the van for support. "K-Kuga…"

"Nao!" Natsuki shouted as she parried off another attack and pushed the man away. "Can you walk?"

Nao coughed. "Probably." With a burst of strength Nao stood all the way up on her two feet. She was still wobbly and disoriented, but could at least stand with some help from the van.

"Come on." With one final roundhouse kick, Natsuki sent one of the men tumbling backwards, running into his comrades and buying her the opening she needed. She turned and ran, grabbing Nao's wrist en route and dragging her along through the crowd which had formed to watch the fight.

* * *

"Do you see anything, Mai-san?"

"No…wait. Did you see that?"

"Where?

"Over there. The subway station where those men ran into. I thought I saw Nao go inside."

"Yuuki-san finally got in over her head?"

"Maybe. I hope she'll be all right."

Mai continued to look out the window at the aftermath of whatever Cain Nao had raised while Shizuru returned her attention to the apartment. "Mai-san?" she asked. "Which way are pipe valves supposed to be turned?"

"Parallel means they're open. Perpendicular means they're closed."

"Then there is a reason the fire was so bad." Mai turned to Shizuru to see her looking up at the ceiling, and followed her eyesight. Shizuru's flashlight shined on one such valve that was connected to the apartment's sprinkler system. It was closed. "This fire was intentional." Shizuru returned her attention to Mai. "With the sprinklers disabled and that towel under the door, this fire was set to destroy this apartment without alerting anyone outside."

"Who could have done this?" Mai asked. "Could it have been Searrs?"

"The thought had occurred to me, but I think Natsuki did this herself." Shizuru turned her gaze to the bedroom door.

"Oh, right, the lack of underwear. You think Natsuki disabled the sprinklers, stuffed the towel to not let the smell get out to the hallway, and packed away her collection?"

"That is what I suspect."

Mai's cell phone began making vibrating noises, and she flipped it open. "We got to go. Police are outside."

"That was fast. Did we trip an alarm?" Shizuru asked as the two briskly made their way to the exit.

"Who knows? I don't want to find out, though."

* * *

Nao's coordination and awareness of her surroundings was gradually returning, enough at least for her to be able to swipe the card-reader on the ticketing gate as Natsuki pulled her through. Luckily for them, a southbound train was about to depart, and they boarded just as the doors closed. Their pursuers came into view through the windows as the train pulled out of the station.

"Two stops," Natsuki said quietly to Nao.

"And then?"

"My place."

"Thought it got torched."

"New place."

A moment of silence. "I hate you," Nao muttered. Natsuki didn't respond for a few seconds. "I could have had him…" she added, her voice trailing off.

"You would have gotten slaughtered by the other four," Natsuki pointed out.

"Don't give a shit," Nao muttered before trying to get her spasms under control. "I want to kill him."

Natsuki was somewhat perplexed by Nao's behavior. Normally Nao would have spoken of her targets with disdain and contempt. This time, Natsuki didn't see that. Nao was taking it personally. It was a pure hatred that burned behind Nao's eyes, being held back by her compromised flesh.

Nao glanced at Natsuki and saw the confusion on her face. She proceeded to explain as the train approached the next station: "You remember what happened to my mom?"

Natsuki nodded. "Yeah."

"He was one of them."

"I see." The reason behind the ferocity and primal instinct Nao had displayed against that poor schmuck next to the van then dawned on Natsuki.

The pair travelled in silence until the second stop, when Natsuki got up and helped Nao out of the train…to the other side of the platform and into the train heading in the opposite direction. "You led me the wrong way?" she asked when they sat down in the northbound train.

"Trying to throw them off. My bike's one stop the other way."

"Ah." Nao continued to take deep breaths as she continued to reassert full control of her body.

"Figured you'd know something about misdirection."

* * *

"Oi, Takumi." Akira poked her head from the bathroom. "Can you get some shampoo?"

"Hang on, give me five seconds," came the reply amidst other sounds from the television.

Akira rolled her eyes and took one guess as to what Takumi was doing. "Corner blitz, left side," she called out. "Have the slot take a screen." Akira had wished before that Takumi could become a little manlier, and she sometimes wondered if she should have been more careful.

"I don't think so, Akira. I think I should have him do a wheel and the tight end do a quick in route in case he's not open."

"The slot's going to be wide open with an extra guy to the outside to help block."

"If you insist."

Akira listened to the play-by-play. "_…takes the snap, slings it left, the pass is INTERCEPTED, the forty, the fifty, the forty, finally shoved out at the thirty-four yard line."_

Takumi let out a loud sigh as he paused the game and tossed the controller on a pile of books. "I blame you," he called out.

"On the contrary, Takumi. You did not trust your own instincts that the corner was sitting on the quick pass."

"Oh, that's bullshit, you were just duped."

Akira didn't bat an eye at Takumi's foul language. "No I wasn't, I knew the corner wasn't going to blitz."

"Then what's with the 'Oh, just throw a screen' suggestion if you knew it was a bad idea?"

"When you're out there, you're going to get bad advice sometimes, even from the most reliable of sources. You have to learn when to trust others and when to trust yourself."

"This is something you know?" Takumi asked as he reached the bathroom door and handed Akira a bottle of shampoo from the closet.

"Something I was raised on," she replied as the shampoo bottle retreated behind the door.

"Oh, right, yeah."

"What's the score?"

"Down 24-20. 3:56 to go."

"Don't let them get the field goal." With that Akira closed the door. She threw the deadbolt across the door, a more secure way of getting one's privacy.

It was both interesting and worrisome to Akira, Takumi and his newfound obsession of football. On one hand, it was a nice change in Akira's eyes as she saw Takumi become more active physically, more competitive. Part of it was probably the fact that he didn't need to compete with the laundry list of boys who were going for the academy's baseball team, so there was a much better shot of him getting to actually play rather than just ride the pines (never a bad thing for one's psyche). After suffering through the most polar opposite personality of hers that she had ever dealt with, it was nice for Akira to have one that was a little more in line with hers. He still wouldn't live through ninja training, but at least they could jog together in the mornings without having to stop every three minutes to let Takumi catch his breath.

On the other hand, Takumi took on a different persona sometimes when he played, either on the field or in a video game. It had caught Akira off guard the first time she witnessed it, when he threw his first touchdown pass in the video game and had actually rubbed it in the television's face with a, "Oh! Who's your daddy?!" and some pointing at the screen. Never minding the fact that the computer had been set on "rookie", that actually disturbed a couple neighbors, for which Takumi quickly reverted back to his usual self and apologized, but that image stuck in Akira's mind. After two years, he had worked his way up to the "all-pro" level and learned to turn down the volume on his celebrations and frustrations, but it was a side of Takumi Akira was actually a little nervous about. Akira had initially welcomed the emergence of Takumi's competitive streak, but deep down she feared that in the process Takumi might lose himself, lose what endeared him to her even as she berated how much of a pansy Takumi normally acted. So far his Hydian competitiveness has been tempered down and kept in check by his Jekyll-esque soft personality, but Akira always kept an eye out. She didn't know if this beast would one day find its football pen too small for its taste.

* * *

Fumi had walked out of the bathroom and was about to retire for the night when the phone next to her bed rang. "Hello? Director Himeno speaking."

"_Fumi?_"

"Ah, Kuga-san. I had heard that you ran into trouble. It is good to know you are all right." Fumi depressed a button on the phone, activating the two-way security system that would ensure privacy.

"_You have some pretty low standards if this is your definition of 'all right'._ _I'm out of contingency plans."_

"Oh. I am sorry to hear that."

"_I think you got a leak somewhere. I was followed as soon as I left the bar, and they had a van waiting to spirit me away to God-knows-where."_

"I will look into it. Is there anything else?"

"_How long has Nao been a part of this?_"

Fumi became confused. "Yuuki-san?"

"_Unless there's another Nao out there with short red hair and an attitude problem, yeah. How long have you had her tail me?_"

"Is she with you?"

"_Recovering from a taser. Can you answer my question?"_

"I have never asked Yuuki-san to perform any work relating to yours, Kuga-san. The only agreement I have with her relates to her scholarship."

"..._You sure?"_

"Yes, Kuga-san. What has happened that has caused this line of inquiry?"

A brief pause. "_Nothing, don't worry about it. Will you be around in the morning?_"

"Yes."

"_All right. I'll head over then._"

"Very well." The line clicked dead before Fumi had a chance to wish Natsuki a good night, so she merely returned the phone to its set. She sat down on the side of her bed and let out a heavy sigh. "Things were simpler back then, weren't they, Mashiro-sama_?_" Fumi said aloud, looking at a picture of her and her former master next to the phone. It had been easier, at least for Fumi, when Mashiro was doing the planning and she just followed along. All Fumi had to do was perform the duties Mashiro assigned her and prepare tea at the appropriate times throughout the day. Unlike virtually every student she was responsible for, Fumi didn't find caring for Mashiro very tedious; she was the kind of person who could appreciate the small and simple things in life.

Then came the day Mashiro and Nagi left. It was the culmination of something Fumi had suspected Mashiro was preparing her for in the couple of months between the end of the Carnival and their departure: independence. Fumi and her family had been Mashiro's servants for the past three centuries, a duty the Himeno family held even before the previous Carnival was conducted and had continued since Mashiro's victory. From the stories her mother had told her before she died, Mashiro had met untimely fates several times over the years, but her spirit was transferred from one body to another and so remained on this earth for most of the past three hundred years. (It was the last untimely fate that Sugiura-sensei had learned and confronted the two about two years ago.) To suddenly (relatively speaking) be released from that duty was a great change for Fumi, and she occasionally wondered how her more traditional ancestors would have felt about it.

She might have compared her daze over her new freedom to a slave suddenly being told she was free, but that analogy did not seem appropriate in Fumi's eyes. Mashiro was not at all unfairly demanding or cruel like a slave master; it was not slavery if the "slave" chose to be there. Fumi had come to serve her because she wanted to, even in the final couple of months when Mashiro had told her repeatedly that it wasn't necessary. (Mashiro had eventually given in and said with a small laugh, "Very well. You are my apprentice, then.")

Fumi still wished that Mashiro had never left, even though Mashiro had prepared her well for life after her. It wasn't that she hated having to run the show alone. Apprehensive at first, yes, but it was difficult for her to hate it if Mashiro had placed her trust in her because she never wanted to let her down. Rather, she had looked up to her as a teacher and mentor even when she looked down to greet her every morning with her breakfast tray. She missed having a reliable and wise friend and confidant. Nights were frequent, especially once she had gained control of the remnants of First District, where she would lie in bed and ask the calm and seeming clairvoyant eyes of her one-time care how she was doing. After what Kuga had told her over the phone, tonight would be another one.

Fumi picked up the phone again and dialed a number. "Yes, hello? Yes, I would like the number of the exterminator, please."

* * *

"This should do." Natsuki tossed Nao a towel that she fished out from her luggage. "You want to go first?"

"You go first," Nao replied as she made herself comfortable on the beanbag chair, planning on waiting for Natsuki's shower to warm up the hot water so that she wouldn't need to wait.

"All right." Natsuki walked into the bathroom and closed the door, leaving Nao to look around the room.

Nao sat up and looked around the room and the hastily-arranged furniture that was assembled in it. The two had arrived here about fifteen or so minutes after they exited the Fuuka subway and got on Natsuki's bike. They had to go slowly at first since Nao was still shaking off the effects of the taser and needed to concentrate on staying on the bike, but there were no further incidents from men chasing after them. With the time approaching midnight and the Academy far away, Natsuki had offered Nao her new place (as much of a mess as it was) to sleep the night before returning to the Academy in the morning. Most of her stuff was already packed away for her return home and Nao was generally a light traveler (she figured it wouldn't take more than a half hour to pack the rest).

Her finding time to finish packing and call a cab wasn't what concerned her mind. It was her curiosity and puzzlement over what the hell Natsuki was doing. As soon as they had arrived, Natsuki told Nao not to call or text anyone about where they were. When she asked why, Natsuki said simply, "Because you have no idea how deep in shit you might be in." Natsuki didn't elaborate any further other than saying that she'd have a better idea in the next several hours. All inquires by Nao about what this shit was about were dismissed by Natsuki with a "you'll know if you need to." Nao really couldn't believe she was saying this, but she wished the nicer Natsuki that showed up around Mai was around now because being left in the dark was aggravating. Nao had half a mind to just say "Screw it" and head home by herself, but there was a dead seriousness in Natsuki's demeanor that told Nao that there was something going on that she didn't know about. The fact that there were several men who were apparently trying to kidnap Natsuki armed with more sophisticated weapons than something like a pocketknife highlighted her ignorance of the situation. Only fools messed around blindly in Natsuki's world, and Nao wasn't one of them. So she stuck around, hoping to get some answers. Besides, there wasn't much point in foregoing free room and board.

Nao got up and walked over to the apartment window. Outside, the golden lights of the streetlamps shined down on the parking lot, bathing Natsuki's bike and the other cars parked there in a soft tea color. The glitzy downtown center of Fuuka rose behind it, set against the backdrop of the mountains beyond. Nao opened the window to get some fresh air, adding the soft sounds of tires on pavement and the occasional car whizzing through the air into the room to mix with the sharper sounds of the running shower coming from the bathroom. It was a strangely comforting melody for Nao, a reminder of a normal routine (as normal as Nao's gets, anyway).

So captivated by the array of lights through the window was Nao that she didn't hear the bathroom door open. "Your turn," Natsuki called out from behind her. Nao turned around and saw Natsuki in the doorway, using a towel to dry her hair and a larger one as her only item of clothing. "Corporate casual?" she quipped.

"Forgot my clothes out here."

"You could have asked, you know." Nao walked towards the bathroom with her towel in hand as Natsuki walked out of it. Nao stopped about a yard short of the door and turned back to Natsuki.

"What?" Natsuki asked.

Nao didn't say anything for a moment. "Nothing, forget it." She entered the bathroom and locked the door to end that puzzling conversation for Natsuki.

After a fruitless moment of trying to figure out what Nao was thinking, Natsuki turned her attention to her computer and her predicament. Natsuki sat down in front of her computer and began checking for messages. All things told, if someone had to be drawn into it with her, she could have done much worse than Nao. They did cooperate in their own sort of way, and Nao's no wallflower even after taking the end of the Carnival and the subsequent lack of Elements into account. Besides, Mai, Akane, and the gossip queens can't fight; Yukino and Midori were missing; and Mikoto is too easily distracted (plus Natsuki can't cook). Akira or Miyu and Alyssa might have been OK, though. Shizuru…

Natsuki was interrupted by an incoming instant message. It was one of her contacts. She opened the conversation.

_Yorkhouse120_ : _My apologies. I had not anticipated this outcome.  
ColdWolf: yeah, well the best laid plans  
Yorkhouse120: I can understand if you no longer trust me._

Natsuki sat at the computer for a moment, wondering how to respond.

_ColdWolf: you let me worry about that  
Yorkhouse120: What do you plan to do now?  
ColdWolf: lay low for awhile, get out of the heat  
Yorkhouse120: That would be a wise idea.  
ColdWolf: any idea what happened to the guy?  
Yorkhouse120: The one whom I sent to the bar?  
ColdWolf: yeah  
Yorkhouse120: He has not reported back yet._

That wasn't exactly comforting news.

_ColdWolf: u think they got him  
Yorkhouse120: I fear that may be the case.  
ColdWolf: that sucks  
Yorkhouse120: I was negligent. I did not realize he was being tracked.  
ColdWolf: shit happens. can't be helped._

A somewhat random thought then entered Natsuki's brain, and she decided to blurt it out to see where it went.

_ColdWolf: we should meet sometime  
ColdWolf: face 2 face_

The computer clock said she waited twenty seconds, but Natsuki's clock said she waited twenty years. Understandable, Natsuki reasoned. This was a rather abrupt suggestion. Finally the other person responded.

_Yorkhouse120: Perhaps in due time we will meet. Now is not a good time._

"What are you doing?" Natsuki turned to see Nao emerge from the bathroom.

"Talking. That was a quick shower."

"Who're you talking to?"

"A contact."

Nao walked over and stood behind Natsuki's seat. She scanned the conversation. "You haven't met this guy?" she asked.

"No."

"And you trust him? The guy types in complete sentences."

"He's proven helpful so far."

"How long you've known him?"

"About three months now." Natsuki simultaneously typed in a message:

_ColdWolf: that reminds me, could you do me a favor?_

Nao raised an eyebrow. "Interesting choice of words."

Natsuki glared at Nao and rolled her eyes before dismissing Nao's comment with a scoff.

_Yorkhouse120: Yes?  
ColdWolf: Is anyone else being tracked besides me?  
Yorkhouse120: Let me check. I will need a moment.  
Coldwolf: sure_

"Ah, I see now," Nao said out loud. "Someone is chasing you and you're trying to keep everyone else out of trouble by cutting yourself off. How honorable."

A message popped back from the other end, suspending the conversation before Natsuki had a chance to respond.

_Yorkhouse120: A new file has been added this evening.  
ColdWolf: Anyone I know?  
Yorkhouse120: Possibly. Do you know a Nao Yuuki?_

Both of their hearts skipped a beat when they saw that.

On other side of the IM session, a computer sat in a darkened room, the only light in it coming from the monitor. A figure with long hair sat at this computer, with the same conversation opened in a window.

_ColdWolf: when was the file added?_

The figure turned her attention to a second monitor, logged into a website. The figure consulted the screen for a moment before returning.

_Yorkhouse120: No more than a half hour ago.  
ColdWolf: damn thats fast  
Yorkhouse120: According to the file, she was last seen with you on a side street downtown. Is Yuuki-san still with you?  
ColdWolf: no, but i can call her  
ColdWolf: do they know where she lives?_

The figure hesitated for a second before responding.

_Yorkhouse120: Yuuki-san's current residence at Fuuka Academy is listed. However, the permanent address is unknown at this time.  
ColdWolf: can you change it  
Yorkhouse120: I can hinder the discovery of Yuuki-san's permanent address, but I can not erase her current address from Searrs's database. It will leave a trail and I run a great risk of being caught._

Back in Natsuki's apartment, Natsuki hung her head and cursed silently. She hadn't spun her web of lies carefully and now had gotten entangled in them. Nao just looked at the latest message. "So Searrs is after you?" she asked bluntly.

"Yeah."

"And you didn't want to tell me because…"

"'Cause you guys have had enough grief from them two and a half years ago."

"Might be true for Mai and the others, but not for me. It's more bad guys to beat up, why would I not be happy?"

"One, you're not Wolverine anymore. Two, because you have your mom now."

"What does Mom have to do with this?"

"You want to see her get hurt again?"

"Not like me running away's going to change that. You saw what he wrote; they already know where I live."

"Only at the Academy, which will be obsolete by tomorrow. I'm telling you, you do not want to be involved in this."

"No, I do." Nao turned away and folded her arms across her chest. "Here's my chance to end this and get back at him."

"The one who beat up your mom?" Natsuki sighed. "That was part of the reason why I didn't tell you about Searrs."

"Do explain."

"I knew you were going to go for revenge if I told you. And revenge is not all that it's cracked up to be. I've been there. I was miserable, I was angry, I was…missing the good and happy things in life. Are you willing to throw that away?"

"Throw what away?" Nao spat. "It was torn from me five years ago."

"Nao-"

Nao held up a hand. "Kuga, look. I appreciate you trying to help me. Really. But my mind is set. I want him to pay." Nao glanced around the messy room. "Besides, wouldn't it be nice to have some help?" She idly rubbed her side as she said that, on the spot where she had been tasered earlier.

Natsuki let out a heavy sigh. She was sure she was going to regret this. "Fine. But you know what you signed up for."

On the other side, the figure waited patiently as the minutes passed without a response. The figure began to reach for a small, ornate cup when a message appeared.

_ColdWolf: sorry about the wait. drunk guy rambling in the halls.  
Yorkhouse120: Do not worry about it. I will do what I can to protect Yuuki-san's permanent address.  
ColdWolf: thanks  
Yorkhouse120: Is there anything else you wish to discuss?  
ColdWolf: no were good for now  
Yorkhouse120: Very well. Good night, then.  
ColdWolf: later_

The session ended, and the figure closed the window. The figure proceeded to shut down that computer and disable the connection on the other, revealing the Searrs logo briefly before closing down.

"Putting the odd couple together, huh?" The figure with long hair turned a second one with shorter hair standing behind the first.

"Kuga-san needs to learn to be more trusting, if this is to work," the first replied.

"Even if that meant lying about what Searrs knows?"

"Time grows short and can not be wasted."

"Speaking of waste, dinner is ready. Greek cuisine."

"Very well, then." The second figure grabbed a hold of the wheelchair's handles and steered the first out the door.

* * *

_Please read and review. I'd appreciate it very much._


	6. Primer

_*Sighs* Finally. Sorry for the long gap between updates; I've had a rough couple of months._

_As for Chapter 19 of 12LH, I've had a pretty bad writer's block with it. I have point A and I have point E; I need to figure out points B, C, and D._

_Jijibebe: Awesome. That was exactly what I was gunning for.  
Martial Horror: I'll try not to make Takumi more OOC than necessary.  
Tikigod: ...I might be._

_Again, My-HiME belongs to Sunrise._

_4/22/09_

* * *

"I thought you were dropping Yuuki-san off before coming here," Fumi said as she invited the two into the Director's Mansion.

"Change of plans," Natsuki replied. "I had to tell her about everything; she's on board now. Sorry I didn't let you know earlier. It was late."

"Ah. In that case, please have a seat in the drawing room. I will need a little extra time to prepare something for Yuuki-san as well."

"No problem," Natsuki answered.

"This way." Fumi showed the way to the room before walking off towards the kitchen.

"Something for me?" Nao asked Natsuki quietly as the two walked into the room.

"We get breakfast for coming in this early in the morning. Don't expect a banquet, though."

Nao shrugged. "Free food is free food. It's a nice little benefit."

Natsuki snorted quietly in a slightly bitter irony. "Yeah. Little."

Fumi soon returned and the three sat down. Nao mostly focused on eating her complimentary breakfast while listening in on what Natsuki and the Director had to talk about. "How did your meeting go?" Fumi asked.

"The meeting itself was fine; it was the all the running and chasing after that wasn't so awesome."

"Were you able to learn anything?"

"He passed this off." Natsuki procured a folder and laid it on the table. Half of it pointed at a raised angle towards the ceiling from having been folded over in Natsuki's jacket. She opened it to reveal a stack of papers.

Fumi leaned closer to pick up one of the sheets. "These are invoices?"

"Could be useful for you, I think."

"Yes, it would be good to know how they are getting their supplies." Fumi dropped the photocopy of the invoice back into the folder.

"Still, that's not the intriguing part." Natsuki shuffled through several papers and removed a floppy disk from the pile.

"What's that?" Nao asked, slightly muffled due to a pastry.

"Hell if I know. I didn't notice it until after I picked it up and by that time the guy had left the bar already."

"You have a computer back at your place; why not use that?"

"I don't know if this thing has a virus or something on it! For all I know it's a ploy to screw up my computer and reveal my location! Ever think about that?"

"Please calm down, Kuga-san. Let me see the disk." Natsuki handed the disk over to Fumi, who looked it over. "There is an old computer in one of the rooms that can read floppy disks. It was disconnected from the Academy network last week, so if there is a virus and it attacks, the damage will be contained."

"Oh, right, the upgrading of the network," Natsuki said. "You sure it's all right?"

"The files on that computer were finished transferring on Friday."

"So if something goes wrong, nothing gets lost."

"Yes. Do you want to try it?"

Natsuki thought for a moment. "Well, why not?"

"Very well. This way, please." The two of them got up and Fumi began walking to the door.

Natsuki, however, hesitated. "Rather convenient, isn't it?" she said quietly to Nao. "A disk with unknown things on it, and a computer ready to take it?"

"What are you looking a gift horse in the mouth for?" Nao replied.

"Gift horses in this business are frequently of the Trojan kind." Nevertheless, Natsuki followed Fumi out the door and left Nao to her food. She began poking at the eggs with her fork.

* * *

"Come on, Mikoto. We made a promise." Mai urged along an uncharacteristically sleepy Mikoto as they walked along the path.

"I know, Mai, it's just…"

"9:30 is not _that _early."

"I still can't believe she ate all that cake," Akane said.

"It was a very well made cake, Higurashi-san."

"Yeah, but the amount of cake she ate would have taken me forever to eat!"

"Is that really such a surprise?" Shizuru asked with a smile. "Besides, Higurashi-san should be blessed that you have an easily-sated appetite."

"Why is that?"

"I have been privy to many tales of woe in regards to a woman's appetite and its detrimental effect on her appearance."

"You mean your fan club?" Mai asked.

Shizuru paused for a moment. "If you wish to describe it that way." She adjusted her hat and sunglasses so that she could see better. "It has been a long while, hasn't it?"

"Hm?"

"Since I have seen Alyssa-chan."

"Yeah, I guess it has. We're lucky her chicken pox wasn't worse than it was; otherwise, you'd have missed her again."

The chapel bell began to ring from a distance. Mai looked at her watch. "We're late already?!"

"It appears so, Mai-san," Shizuru replied coolly.

"We should hurry," Akane said. She, Mai, and Mikoto quickened their pace towards the church.

"It must be nice, being able to hold such faith," Shizuru said quietly to the girls fading from view. Her head tilted downward towards the pavement.

"What are you waiting for?!" Shizuru looked up to see Mai urging her to hurry. "We're going to miss Alyssa-chan sing!"

* * *

Nao had just finished off the last of the orange juice when Fumi returned to the room by herself. "Where's Kuga?" she asked.

"She is investigating the files on the disk."

"I take it it's clean?"

"It appears to be." Fumi resumed her old seat. "Yuuki-san?"

"Hm?"

"Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"What?"

"The reason for your presence."

Nao stopped eating. "Kind of early to be doing philosophical musings, isn't it?"

"I mean with Kuga-san. If you were here for the free food, you would have eaten everything quickly and left by now, and I do not believe money alone would buy your services for something so dangerous."

"'Buy'? What am I, a gun for hire?"

"Unless there is some personal reason, Yuuki-san, that is what it would boil down to." Nao made no response, only looking off to the side of Fumi towards the window. "There is another reason, then?" Fumi asked. Nao sighed but again made no verbal response. Fumi, however, did not fail to notice Nao's fist that laid on the sofa clench and tense. For her, that was enough to make an educated guess. An uneasy quiet settled in. Fumi was unsure as to how to proceed with topics like vengeance, and the atmosphere quashed what little inkling Nao had for small talk. The scene persisted all the way until Natsuki returned from her study. "Ah, welcome back, Kuga-san," Fumi greeted. "Was there anything on the disk that proved useful?" Natsuki was nonresponsive as well for a moment. "Is something the matter, Kuga-san?"

"Huh? Oh, uh…yeah, actually…"

"What might that be?"

Natsuki waved a few printouts in her hand. "It, uh…seems they're chasing my father."

* * *

"You made it just in time," Yukariko informed the majority-out-of-breath group as they reached the front doors. "They're about to start." Mai looked up and saw the back of Miyu's head three rows from the back, and led Akane and Mikoto over to her. "Hey," she said quietly as they reached Miyu.

"You have arrived," Miyu stated as she effortlessly slid over to make room. Unfortunately, there was only enough room for two, so Akane moved back a row and settled in behind Mai.

"Barely," Mai replied. "Mikoto burned herself out on sugar last night." She took a moment to reposition Mikoto's posture so that it wouldn't be so obvious that she was not quite awake and aware.

"I see."

The group's quiet conversations were smothered with the start of the choir's singing, the only disturbance being Miyu turning her head slightly and acknowledging Shizuru's arrival when she caught up with the rest of the group. Shizuru removed her shades and hat and sat down next to Akane. The chorus of voices began to rise up front and center, but Shizuru's gaze remained on the android, her thoughts floating back to two years ago and the secret that, among those present, only she and Mai knew about Miyu…

"_God damn it, why won't they leave us alone?" Natsuki got up from her leaning position looking over Shizuru's shoulder and walked over to a nearby wall to slam her hand into it in frustration. She continued to lean on it with an outstretched arm and sighed._

"_And you said you witnessed this happening, Kikukawa-san?"_

"_Yes, kaichou-san. I was sitting on a park bench perhaps fifty or sixty meters away when I noticed something disappear from the corner of my eye. I did not know it was Harada-san and Senou-san until about an hour ago when I found the recording."_

"_How did you get a hold of the tape?" Midori asked from the edge of the bed._

"_The store manager was distracted by a rather unreasonable customer and I took the opportunity to sneak into the back rooms and find the offices where the recordings are kept."_

_Midori raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Seems we have a regular spy here."_

"_While it is fortunate, Kikukawa-san, that you obtained the recordings and discovered who was caught," Shizuru said, "I must ask what made you take such dangerous actions. I cannot imagine that you would do such a thing without a strong reason."_

"_What are you implying, Shizuru?"_

_Yukino held up a hand towards Natsuki. "No, it's all right, Kuga-san. Kaichou-san has a point. After the disappearance, I got up and walked by the scene because I had this nagging feeling that this was not a mere specter of my imagination. It became worse when I spotted a journal on the side of the alley with the Academy's logo imprinted on it; that was when I feared one of the students here might have been involved."_

"_And the rest we know," Natsuki summed up._

"_So a feeling became a bad feeling, and the bad feeling turned into a very real and very bad discovery," Midori said succinctly. "Who else knows about this?"_

"_I don't know yet; I haven't heard any messages of worry about them from anyone."_

"_Neither have I."_

"_Nor I."_

"_Won't stay that way for long, though. The void left by their disappearance will be impossible to hide among their usual chat-"_

_A knock on the door stopped Midori's talking as everyone's attention turned to it. "Who is it?" she called out as she got up and walked to the door. Shizuru glanced over at Natsuki, whose hand hovered over her right side where her holster was located. Midori glanced back at Natsuki, nodded, and cautiously unlocked the door and began to open it._

* * *

Nao, Natsuki, and Fumi leaned over the table and looked over the scattered pieces of paper that layered it. "Well, this explains your knack at spying stuff," Nao said. "It's in your blood."

"Guess so. For an Eastern Bloc agency, the HVA was pretty helpful for the Soviets in getting stuff on West Germany."

"Where does it suggest that Kruger-san is Kuga-san's father?" Fumi asked.

"Here." Nao tapped one of the papers near her. "Says that Kuga's mom met him while she was studying in Munich in June of '86." Her eyebrows rose when she read the next line. "Huh. Seems the two shacked up together a few months later."

"When were you born, Kuga-san?" Fumi asked.

"August of '87," Nao replied after some quick calculations when Natsuki did not answer.

Natsuki eventually nodded in confirmation. "It's possible. I remember her saying once that she spent three years in Germany for postgraduate work."

"I see…" Fumi replied, noting from the delay that the topic of Natsuki's mother was still a tricky one to navigate. Scars of betrayal hurt deeper and linger longer than any other, after all.

"Wait, three years?" Nao asked.

"I would have been, like, two years old when I would have returned to Japan. You think I would have remembered anything about it?"

"You might have at least remembered that you had a dad if your mom was in Germany that long. Or is this guy a deadbeat?"

"Maybe just dead." Natsuki handed Nao another sheet of paper. "Last known sighting by Searrs was in October of '87."

"Where did he go?" Fumi asked.

"Don't know. Doesn't say anything else. I think whatever notes about that were in the corrupted part of the file."

"Hmm…" The noise of questioning from Fumi drew the attention of the other two.

"What's up?" Natsuki asked.

"Please wait a minute. There is something you might be interested in." Fumi left and returned within a couple minutes with a pair of folders of her own. Natsuki quickly shuffled her papers to one side of the table so as to let Fumi show her files. "What's that?" Nao asked, spiriting her breakfast plate off the table.

"Your run-in with Searrs last night has been useful in other ways, Kuga-san." Fumi opened up one of the folders. "One of the facilities that has been tracked since we started to do so has recently seen increased activity. It is an old facility that Searrs used on their attack a few years ago, the one that brought many of the HiME together."

"Oh, yeah, that."

"You guys never shut it down after we kicked Searrs out?" Nao asked.

"It was abandoned after their defeat, and Fujino-san's decapitation of First District headquarters afterwards made goals other than strategic strikes against a weak adversary a higher priority." Nao just blinked blankly, so Natsuki simplified: "They were busy."

"Ah."

"So what about this old base?" Natsuki asked Fumi, returning the conversation to its original track.

"I looked at the files that First District gathered pertaining to the building," Fumi said as she brought the bottom folder to the fore. "It was something like a forward operating base used by Searrs agents before their…muscle moved in."

"And now they're using it again," Natsuki extrapolated.

"Searrs, or whatever remains of it, is the most likely actor, but at the very least, _someone_ is using it," Fumi replied.

"And you want me to find out what exactly's going on."

"Correct."

"Is there a chance that guy'll be there?" Nao asked.

"You're staying away from this, Nao," Natsuki stated flatly while pointing a finger at Nao's face, knowing right away what she was really asking for.

"What? Why?!" Nao protested, slamming her hands onto the table. "You promised!"

Natsuki zoomed her face to within a few inches of Nao's to kill the nascent tantrum. "What I promised is allowing you to help me out. Kicking down the front door and announcing your presence with a shower of bullets is generally counterproductive to that goal."

"What the hell are you talk–"

"You know that you'd do that if you could." Natsuki held her face there for a moment before pulling back into her seat. "Everyone knows you're the type that'd shoot a mosquito with an elephant gun if it bit you."

"Oh, that's what this is about? You think I can't keep my emotions under control?"

"There's a broken window in Searrs's garage that would say so." Nao sighed in defeat.

"I understand your frustration, Yuuki-san," Fumi chimed in, "but Kuga-san has a valid point. You possess only basic fighting skills and have no experience at all in actions as complex as what an action such as this would be. Unless you are willing to heed Kuga-san's advice regarding matters she is more knowledgeable than you are, the prospects of your success in catching that man are bleak at best."

Nao only sighed again in frustration, still upset that she had lost the argument. Natsuki spoke again: "Nao, look. It's one thing to be driven by revenge. I'm not going to stop you from pursuing payback; I've washed my hands of trying to deter you from it. But they even say that revenge is best served cold." Natsuki paused for a moment, coming up with the next thing to say. "You want to do it right the first time? Plan it when adrenaline's not racing through your brain."

A moment passed that held nothing but silence save for Fumi pouring everyone another cup of tea. She not-so-subtly motioned to Nao's cup as a silent suggestion to take a sip and think it over.

* * *

"_Oh. Hello, you two."_

"_Good evening, Sugiura-sensei."_

_A moment of silence passed. "Mmm…what are you two doing out here this late on a school night?"_

"_We have a proposition. For Kuga-san."_

"_Uh, what makes you think she's here?" Midori asked, trying to play dumb._

"_Please do not insult my intelligence, Sugiura-sensei. I am equipped with thermal scanners that can detect the three other people within your apartment from a range of 100 yards. That plus the Ducati-model motorbike parked outside indicates a 95.2% chance–"_

"_Midori, let 'em in," Natsuki called out from around the corner. "If she was going to go apeshit on us, she'd have done so by now."_

_Soon, the two of them were at the foot of the bed, Alyssa seated in a chair and Miyu standing behind her. "So…" Natsuki began, prompting the two newcomers to talk._

"_It has come to our attention that two classmates have been abducted." A moment of silence. "Your lack of a strong reaction indicates that you know as well."_

"_OK, so…" Natsuki said. "Do you know who did it?"_

"_We have a hunch it's Searrs," Alyssa said. "The way it got pulled off…it seems like their MO. Plus, Miyu says that there has been a lot of infighting among the remnants of it." Alyssa's eyes barely left the ground right in front of the bed; whether it was out of simple shyness or perhaps guilt wasn't known. "Something like this might be a move by one faction to reestablish control over the whole organization."_

"_How?" Yukino asked._

"_Controlling the Carnival," Shizuru replied, no stranger to factional rivalries owing to her experiences in high-level corporate circles. "Maybe they don't know that we've ended it, or maybe they are looking for a way to revive it despite us. Even if some know…yes, even if some of the leaders at the top know that we destroyed the Star, their once-lofty goal might be used as a rallying point to unite the factions."_

"_If not by words, then by force," Natsuki added._

"_Oh."_

"_So where do you fit into this?" Midori asked._

"_Searrs has something we want as well," Alyssa replied. "There is another android model in their possession."_

"_Like her?" Natsuki asked, pointing to Alyssa's guardian. _

"_Only big and better. Well, maybe not bigger if what Miyu found is right, but it's supposed to be better at least."_

"_Why would there be a second android?" Shizuru asked._

"_Always have back-ups," Alyssa replied tersely._

"_I presume that it was brought into Japan in case I was rendered incapacitated or otherwise lost as a replacement for Mistress," Miyu stated. "It would have been rendered irrelevant when the Valkyries defeated Searrs's attempt to take over the Academy, and presumably placed into storage."_

"_Right, no Alyssa-chan, no point," Midori said. "Are you guys offering a _quid pro quo_?"_

"_In essence, yes," Miyu replied. "We will assist you in recovering Harada-san and Senoh-san if you will help us retrieve the body."_

The rest, of course, is history, and Miyu now sat not three feet away with a new body. Though her outward appearance remained the same (the reason it was possible that some of the former HiME did not know about it), Shizuru knew, at least superficially, about the more efficient internal motor, the expanded arsenal of weapons now at Miyu's disposal, and her improved cybernetic systems. Previous conversations with Mai revealed that Alyssa made improvements every few months or so, chiefly to activate some feature that hadn't been activated yet. With Alyssa being the only person who had any real chance of understanding all the techno-babble that came with Miyu's new body, they had opted to start with the essential systems first and work their way up over time.

She was most curious, though, about the android's behavior. Miyu perhaps has a naturally stoic personality (if the word "naturally" can be used to describe an artificial construct), but it seemed to Shizuru that Miyu was no longer as lifeless as she seemed when they first met. There was perhaps a bit more light in Miyu's eyes when Alyssa took center stage up front, a more natural smile that crept onto her face when she began her solo. It reminded Shizuru of how…

Shizuru sighed. She could only avoid worrying about her for so many hours, it seemed.

"…_kaichou?_" A voice slowly registered in her mind belonging to Mai. "Hello?"

"Ah, yes, Mai-san?"

"Service is over."

Shizuru looked around at the people all walking about, greeting each other and holding conversations. "So it is."

"You all right?" Mai waved her hand in front of Shizuru's face.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Shall we go see Alyssa-chan?" Shizuru nodded her head towards the front, where Miyu was talking with Alyssa. Tonight was going to be one of those nights for the two of them, so now was the time to take them out to lunch and catch up some more. As she went up, though, she noticed Akane looking back towards the doors, as if searching for something. "Is something wrong, Higurashi-san?"

Akane turned to Shizuru and pointed towards the back doors. "You didn't happen to see a girl with long braids in the back, did you?"

Shizuru shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

"Wait...I might have..." Mai went. "I don't know for sure, but..."

"Was there something strange about the girl?" Shizuru asked.

"I don't know, she just...seemed to be paying a lot of attention to us instead of the choir..."

A moment of unease passed before Mai dismissed it. "It was probably just us. Come on, let's go get Alyssa-chan and Miyu."

"Yeah, probably."

* * *

"Is something wrong, Nao?"

"Oh, no, um, everything's alright."

"It just seems like–"

"_It's fine_, Mom. Really."

"Really?"

"Really." Nao then turned around and left the kitchen, heading towards her room to finish unpacking, leaving the older redhead at a loss of words, only able to release a sigh as she glanced at the oven clock to see that it was a little past 5:00. It had been almost a year since Chihiro awoke, and still she could not get over the shock of this new world. So many things had changed in those five years, most of all to her Nao. Long gone was the cheery Nao that she had known for ten years. In her place was one that had seen entirely too much. Her conversation with Director Himeno soon after she had awoken (the Director had been kind enough to come visit her before she was discharged) did take some of the shock out of seeing the new Nao, but even five years of repeated "she's not the Nao you knew" wouldn't have removed the unease she felt once she moved into a new home (with the Director's assistance) and settled into a more normal life.

Would she say that they had grown apart? Not really, no. Chihiro's first coherent image in over five years was of unbridled joy from a teenage girl who looked familiar but she didn't recognize until she focused on the smaller details. The Director's later assertion that Nao hadn't forgotten about her was plain as day. That was last June. It was when August and September came when she realized how Nao had changed more than just physically. She seemed more distant, quite cynical of everything and everyone, especially of men. She tried not to show it to her herself, but she could tell that something had happened to her Nao in the past five years, something that took away the Nao she knew, something that what happened to her the night of April 16th, 2001 alone would be hard pressed to explain. But Nao always went quiet and often tried to change the subject whenever she tried to pry.

Nao's ringing cell phone on the table interrupted her thoughts. Things truly had changed, Chihiro thought as she picked up the phone and began walking to Nao's room, if Nao had the self-motivation to arrange her own cell phone plan. "Nao?" she called out through the closed door. She looked at the caller ID. "Your friend Kuga is calling."

Nao's door opened in an instant and she snatched the phone out of her mother's hands before she could react. "Hello...Yeah, I'll be out in a sec…" Nao's face quickly spun back into the room and at a green bookbag currently on a chair. It must be Nao's friend on the other end, the one Nao said with whom they'd be out for tonight. "Yeah, I got everything…See ya…" She hung up.

"What's the bag for?" Chihiro asked.

"Stuff for doing…friend stuff." That was about Nao's worst attempt at lying Chihiro had seen since Nao broke that vase when she was five years old. The approach of the sounds of a motorbike drew their attention to an open window in Nao's room, where outside a bike approached their apartment and the mostly black-clad biker removed her helmet to reveal Kuga. With a quick, "I might be out late," Nao jogged down the hallway and in a moment left their apartment, the front door emphatically closing behind Nao.

Chihiro, honestly, couldn't make heads or tails of it. The past ninety seconds of activity had all the markings of a classic descent-into-the-wrong-crowd kind of movie plot. Her motherly instincts were just screaming obscenities at her brain, telling her that she should have stopped Nao or at least have been more stiff in asking the contents of the bag. Even six months ago, she might have heeded it. But she looked out the window at Nao's friend Kuga, sitting on the idle bike with a second helmet in hand. When Nao exited the apartment building and approached the bike, Kuga simply handed her the helmet, her gaze meeting Chihiro's as Nao got on the bike. Chihiro saw the slightest nod from Kuga as she put her own helmet on and the two drove off.

It wasn't until Chihiro walked into her bedroom that she figured out what had stopped her from speaking out: those two seconds. Nao had kept her eyes ahead, not looking back or even off to the side at her once she left their apartment. She had been quiet and avoidant of what exactly was going on outside those four walls, as if she didn't want to discuss it. Perhaps Nao hadn't lost any love for her, but she had to revise her earlier statement: they had grown distant. It wasn't really either of their faults; after all, it's hard to have a relationship when one side is unresponsive for years at a time. As much as it frustrated Chihiro, she knew that to expect a teenage Nao would simply permit a strong parental influence back into her life, especially one that was stuck on preteen mode, would be asking too much, especially since Nao was capable of doing things by herself. It hadn't been too long ago that she was one as well.

That led to Kuga. The two had yet to meet formally, yet Chihiro felt strangely at ease when she saw her take Nao on her bike. Ordinarily, the "don't mess with me" aura that she gave off would have set off alarms. But this was different. Most parents don't have to deal with being single _and_ missing five years at the same time. Chihiro's been at it for months without much success; she was willing to give her friend a chance (Nao had always returned in one piece, after all). She would have to meet her face to face one day, of course, but Chihiro would roll the dice on this one.

Chihiro's eyes moved to the file on the nightstand, the name "Yuuki" scrawled on the cover underneath the logo of Fuuka Medical Center. "_Besides,_" she thought solemnly, "_there may be no choice_."

* * *

_Credit to Shades of Gray by Tremalkinger for the inspiration to the name of Nao's mother._

_Reviews are most appreciated._


	7. Trouble in Twos

_And here is Chapter 6. A better turnaround time, but with me about to leave my first job, my second about to break for the summer, and having to bang out an application for grad school (and hope to God I have a chance) and study for licensing exams, things will be dicey update-wise. I thank you all who have continued to follow this story despite the long gaps between chapters (of which I have barely scratched the surface) and reviewed it to help make me a better writer._

_lostinafeeling: I'm flattered by your appraisal of my work, and I most appreciate your view on this. Natsuki is my favorite character, and I hope future chapters will continue to develop her (and everyone else) as well as you say I have so far.  
MartialHorror: Yeah.  
ProcupineTree: Hmm, you think I should lift the ban? I suppose two years is long enough...  
Nyloel: It's actually kind of interesting that you and PT have praised my character development. That was actually my weakest point when I wrote a short play for English class._

_Again, My-HiME belongs to Sunrise._

_6/4/09_

* * *

_12 March  
20:11 (UTC+9)  
Fuuka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan_

Breaking and entering wasn't a felony that Nao had practiced as much in as battery, but when the safehouse has to front as an actual business as well, that left some options open.

"_And go._"

Nao leaped over the fence and crossed the back alley before hopping onto a pair of garbage cans as Natsuki's voice began counting the seconds through the earpiece. She grabbed the windowsill and used it to pull her way up the wall to the second floor window.

"…_seven, eight…"_

Nao carefully stood up on the windowsill just as Natsuki said ten. "_Just in time,_" Nao thought as she spied the security camera's power button light up. She took out a glass cutter from her back pocket and traced out a semi-oval around the lock of the double-hung, moving slowly since it had to be done freehand and she needed to apply a decent amount of pressure. "Ready."

"_All right, one second._" Nao waited for Natsuki to give the OK; bad things would likely happen if she was caught tapping the pane at that point. "_Looks clear._"

"OK." Nao began hitting the inside of the semi-oval with as much force as she could, which wasn't a whole lot; there wasn't a lot to hold on to in order to make sure she didn't bounce herself down to the ground. Plus, hitting too loud might alert Searrs, which would be bad. After a couple of minutes of tapping, the glass gave way enough for Nao to brace herself and give it a good push to send the cut piece to the floor inside. She reached in and unlocked the window. "It's open."

"_All right, I'll be waiting._"

Pulling the bottom window up like a normal person would was difficult due to Nao being forced to stay standing on that narrow sill, so with effort she pulled the top window down as far as she could before slipping inside and landing on the carpeted floor. Nao got up, took a quick glance at the door, and slid the window back into its old position as much as she could. There wasn't much that could be done about the hole in the glass; they'd just have to hope it won't be noticed.

Nao shuffled her way across the carpet to the door. Opening it just a crack, she saw the back of one of the employees walking away from her and towards the stairs. This late on a Sunday evening, there shouldn't be too much activity going on: the building housed a clothing store at ground level and some offices on the upper floors, so the only employees around should stay on the first floor. Thankfully for Nao, her destination was one floor up. Casting a fleeting glance down the other end of the hallway, she waited until the employee started walking down the stairs before following his steps to the staircase. She kept about ten or fifteen feet of distance to avoid drawing attention to herself before she reached the stairs and proceeded up.

Nao reached the third floor and cautiously opened the door to the dark hallway beyond, lit by the occasional LED-filled panel. She slid inside the hallway and let the door close softly behind her. "Well, then," she said softly to herself. "Let's get to work."

* * *

"Welcome," the cashier greeted as Natsuki strolled into the store. "Is there anything I can help you with today?"

"I'm just looking around," she replied.

"Very well, then. Please let one of our employees know if you need any help." Natsuki acknowledged it with a nod before moving on to the back of the store at a leisurely gait. She didn't want to tip them off by homing in on the "Employees only" area right away, after all.

The plan that Natsuki drew up that afternoon was fairly straightforward: Nao goes in the back way, slips upstairs, and disables the security system long enough so that Natsuki could slip into the back rooms and find her way downstairs. Natsuki would then investigate what Searrs or whoever's running the show was up to, make copies of as much as she could, then get out of Dodge. Nao would act as a lookout and back-up while Natsuki did her thing. This plan would accomplish what Fumi had asked her to do, but more importantly allow Nao to do something more tangible yet keep her out of potential problems if that guy should be there. To be specific, Natsuki would shield her from his presence if he was indeed there. Rash actions are a bane to these kinds of operations.

The minutes ticked by slowly and became increasingly more heart-pounding for Natsuki as she tried hard to feign interest in the chic styles on display. She usually wasn't one to care a whole lot about what she wore beyond making sure it was comfortable (what went on underneath was different story), and her ability to put on a show was hampered even more by the ever-present temptation to check her cell phone every forty-two seconds. At least twice she had to tell herself to slow down and actually try to look at the clothes lest her anxiousness to get inside draw attention and either blow her cover right there or raise suspicion if she did slip away but the lack of activity strikes one of the employees in the store. It didn't matter that she had done this kind of thing several dozen times before: you only need to screw up once. Such is life in this line of work.

Natsuki cell phone let out a very soft humming as the vibrate function set off, her signal from Nao that she had about a minute and a half to get inside. Fortunately for her, when she glanced back at the front desk, there were only two employees within sighting distance, one of them focused on something on the computer and the other addressing a customer. Without further ado, she glided over to the "Employees only" door and slipped inside to the hallway. Without hesitation, she walked down the hall to the second to last door on the left, pulling out an ultraviolet light about the size of a pen and a small capsule. Natsuki frowned, though, when she saw the metal buttons on the keypad: her plan to blow powder onto the pad wouldn't work. In the cool and dry environment of the hallway thanks to air conditioning, the powder would not stick to the buttons and more likely raise an alarm than tell her what buttons are in the code. She put the capsule away and glanced at her watch. Seventy seconds.

Natsuki's eyes caught sight of the 2 and 5 keys, which were noticeably more worn than the other keys. Maybe that could give a hint. She thought back to when she was reviewing the stolen security tapes from that same store that afternoon. She remembered the man punching the pad a total of nine times; first on the third row, then the first, second, second, first, second, second, first, then the last. The pound key was on the last row and was more visibly worn than the star, so that was probably the "enter" button. But what's the actual code? Natsuki took a deep breath and glanced at her watch again. Fifty seconds. She looked up at the disabled-for-the-time-being camera, waiting for its chance to pounce and send her down in flaming failure. "_Enough_," Natsuki told herself as she refocused on the keypad. Fear was OK. Paralyzing fear was not.

Natsuki looked closer at the pad, close enough to read the Roman letters assigned to each button. Maybe the code was a word or a phrase; it'd certainly be an easy way to remember it. Natsuki gritted her teeth; she'd have to go on that with the clock ticking. OK, then, what's the word? S-E-A-R…no, too short. G-O-L-D-E-N-M-I…way too long. V-A-L-K-Y…it's the right length, but her finger would not match the order in the video. Natsuki checked her time again: twenty-seven seconds. Last chance to abort, but she could taste the answer like mayo! Come on, think! Her finger hovered over the keys again: 8 for "V", 2 for "A", 5 for "L"…wait…maybe that was it. Natsuki threw up her Hail Mary pass: 82542552. She finished with an emphatic punch of the pound key, and the red LED light turned a merciful green as the sound of a lock releasing its hold on the door reached Natsuki's ears. She opened the door, hurried inside, and began pushing the door closed, trying to hurry the stupid pneumatic door shut before time ran out. She stared at the last few seconds of the timer ticking away: six, five, four, three. The door clanged against the jamb just as the time reached two seconds, and Natsuki didn't release her breath until the clock reached zero.

It wasn't that failure to close the door would have been an automatic blowing of her cover, but that was the limit of Natsuki's video-looping program that she had Nao install in the system when she broke in on the third floor. The door being open all of a sudden would have been suspicious to anyone watching, and though there was no guarantee that that was the case (there would be the chance that the Searrs guards would have been napping or otherwise distracted), why risk it? It was fortunate for Natsuki that her reckoning that the code was a word was accurate, and fortunate again that she hadn't cut Midori's class the day they discussed Norse mythology. Natsuki took a minute to recover from those ninety seconds of adrenaline-filled terror. It wouldn't be a good idea to proceed until she could think clearly.

But damn if that rush wasn't exhilarating.

* * *

Miyu made no comment about the fact that Alyssa's homework probably didn't have anything to do with testing out the validity of the stability/instability paradox. The normal work assigned to Alyssa, even after skipping three grades, was still a cinch; she sought out more complicated problems to investigate. Miyu simply watched as the big trajectory lines arced down from the Arctic, other lines curved in from two oceans, and the results came streaming in:

_Seattle – 1.3 million casualties  
Buffalo – 1.0 million  
Vancouver – 1.8 million  
Minneapolis/St. Paul – 1.8 million  
Honolulu – 0.5 million _

"Oh, God, here comes the hurt," Alyssa said ruefully to the screen, as the payloads reached their targets. "Stupid ABM Treaty."

_Toronto – 2.1 million  
Washington – 2.6 million  
Boston – 2.7 million  
Anchorage – 0.2 million  
New York – 13.2 million  
Los Angeles – 8.9 million  
Portland – 0.9 million  
Philadelphia – 4.0 million  
Baltimore – 1.8 million  
San Francisco – 2.5 million  
Norfolk – 0.6 million_

"Mistress?"

Alyssa turned around. "Yes, Miyu?"

_Detroit – 3.7 million  
Sacramento – 0.7 million  
Cleveland – 1.5 million  
Columbus – 0.7 million  
San Diego – 1.4 million  
Chicago – 7.1 million  
Milwaukee – 1.1 million_

"I presume the European theater was struck already?"

"Unfortunately. Asia's been glassed and Latin America's doomed too. Stupid NATO tactical nukes."

_San Jose – 0.8 million  
Pittsburgh – 1.7 million  
Miami – 1.3 million  
Phoenix – 1.1 million  
Indianapolis – 0.7 million  
Denver – 1.3 million_

"Mistress, I believe I have pointed out previously the futility of watching this particular simulation play out. The end result is already known to be unacceptable."

"I knew that as soon as Brussels went boom."

_Cincinnati – 1.1 million  
Montreal – 1.3 million  
Tampa – 1.1 million  
St. Louis – 1.9 million _

"I do not understand why you would persist in watching when you already know its outcome."

Alyssa paused to think over what Miyu just said while the casualty list continued to grow:

_Atlanta – 1.7 million  
Kansas City – 1.0 million  
Dallas/Ft. Worth – 2.3 million  
New Orleans – 0.8 million  
Houston – 2.5 million_  
_San Antonio – 0.8 million_

"It is also 8:16 PM."

Alyssa checked the clock behind her. "Oh wow. Didn't notice." She quickly typed in a command to the computer, and the depressingly glowing map disappeared, replaced by a solitary window with "Calulating…" on it. It was soon followed by a summary report detailing just how screwed the world had gotten, broken down by region. Alyssa had the data saved for later viewing and closed the program. "I'll need a couple minutes to get everything ready."

"You have not answered my inquiry, Mistress," Miyu reiterated as she approached the array of wires in the console next to Alyssa's computer.

Alyssa ceased typing. "Well…" Her hands fell to her sides. "You know…I'm not quite sure," she concluded hesitantly. "I mean, in a way it's fascinating, watching millions of lives vaporize in a matter of minutes."

"I see," Miyu replied flatly.

"Don't get me wrong, Miyu," Alyssa said quickly, "I wouldn't want this to actually happen. It's just…well, the more I think about things like Antietam and Midway and Cuba, the more I think about what might have been."

"You are referring to Special Order 191, JN-25, and Vasiliy Arkhipov, Mistress?"

"Yeah. You know, how it's the little things that can change everything."

Miyu was silent for a moment, then ever so slightly nodded. "I understand, Mistress." She waited by the console as Alyssa prepped for the next installment of "Android Improvement".

* * *

Nao was bored. This statement may seem odd given that she was illegally trespassing on private property and was in the middle of a mission to hit Searrs, but being stuck on the third floor doing little more than standby while Natsuki got to do all the fun stuff left her with nothing to do save for sitting in office chairs and staring out the window. At least she was inside: out the window Nao saw how the clouds buried the sky and threatened to rain. Hard, too: Nao caught a glimpse of a flash of lighting in the distance, though it was apparently far away since no sound of thunder ever reached her.

"Maybe I can play some games while I wait," she said to herself as she moved over to the computer. That idea was quashed, however, just as she was about to play Solitaire. Nao had barely started on the game when she heard the distinctly disheartening sound of a hammer cocking right in her ear.

"Excuse me, miss. Could you come with us please?"

Fucktastic.

* * *

She had to admit, even after four months, she still hadn't gotten used to wearing these kinds of clothes. She didn't really consider them inferior or anything compared to what she usually wore, but this denim jeans thing felt rather tight on her. And this "hoodie" was probably too big if the top kept coming down on her eyes. Nevertheless, it'd have to do until her school uniform came in tomorrow morning.

She looked down at the creased piece of paper that was in her hand:

_Your instructions are to enter Fuuka Chapel and search for the former Searrs laboratory in the basement. Report back on its status: whether it is currently in use, extent of facilities and equipment, extent of efforts to hide it (if any), etc._

It didn't need to be done for another few days, but there really wasn't much else for her to do during the dead time of Sunday night. Well, OK, that was a lie: she could have spent time to see who else she could find here. But then, she'd already seen about nine or ten of them walking around campus; given how things have gone so far, she wouldn't be surprised to see another one or two in the next hour. Besides, as much as she found it interesting, she would rather not get on their bad side by failing to be punctual and reliable. They were her only ticket home, after all.

The girl folded the piece of paper up and placed it in her pocket before stepping through the doors and walking inside. Luckily for her, Ms. Steinberg was not around, so she quickly sidestepped into a side corridor and began looking for a way down. She had to be quiet and very careful, and there were a couple of close calls when Ms. Steinberg came into view to perform some chores, but she remained undetected until she found a stairway. Without further ado, she slipped inside, closed the door, and walked down.

The next five or so minutes were spent exploring the basement corridors, trying to find this secret lab. The possibility that it was no longer there (they had said that it was abandoned two years ago) began to grow in her mind as the minutes passed and no sign of anything out of place came up, especially since it was supposed to be very easy to find and it couldn't have been that big of a basement. Maybe someone came and cleaned it all out. That last thought was dismissed quickly when she turned the corner and saw an array of glowing lights being reflected off the walls of the corner ahead of her. She quietly moved to that corner and peered around it, careful to step around a bundle of cables that ran by. In the room ahead was a large panel of various screens and consoles. Seated in front of it was a girl, no older than her pre-teens, yet performing what appeared to be a lot of programs and diagnostics that she herself would have had no chance of comprehending. But it was what she saw towards the left side of the room that captured her attention: Miyu. She recognized that face anywhere. That was who she saw upstairs that morning; she hadn't been sure because her face had been turned away from her position in the back the whole time. The girl got up from her seat and walked over the Miyu. From her position, it appeared she was her caretaker or engineer or something, doing things like rewiring her internal systems and installing computer things or something.

Suddenly, Miyu's head, which at that point was facing downward, turned to face the intruder. The girl let out an "EEP!" before shutting it with her mouth. She backpedalled quickly, but had forgotten about the bundle of cables that ran from the hallway into the room. With an almost comical moment of arm-flailing, she tripped on the bundle and fell backwards, her hand sideswiping a nearby power box. Some of the lights shut off as her fingers ran across the panel.

"Who's there?!" the blond preteen yelled, alerted by a sudden dimming in the room and turning towards the source of the commotion. Alyssa dropped her clipboard and began running towards the stranger, who got up and began to run away. "Stop!" she shouted as she ran around the boxes that impeded her path between her and the hallway. The chase ran through the basement, the pursued dashing up the stairs and knocking Sister Yukariko off to the side as she opened up the door leading to the basement. Alyssa ran by and caught sight of the intruder running out the front door. "Hey!" she shouted, but it was no use: the other girl was much faster than the top speed her own body could put out. By the time Alyssa reached the front door, there was no sign of the intruder in the raining night, the few streetlamps that lined the roads not revealing anything.

Meanwhile, in Alyssa's haste to catch the stranger she had inadvertently kicked one of the boxes with the side of her foot, sending an open soda bottle that sat on top of it toppling over, its contents streaming across the top of the box and onto one of the computers.

* * *

"Where's the alarm coming from?"

"_Third floor security terminal."_ The pair rushed by, completely not noticing the figure in the adjacent hallway. "God damn it, Nao," Natsuki muttered as she snuck down the halls. "I told you not to cause trouble." Hallway sirens flashed as Searrs personnel hurried to and fro while Natsuki hid in a conveniently placed janitor's closet, watching the activity. Nao, for all her ability to give a man a beat down, was hopeless outclassed by a trained dozen of them, and judging by their communications it seemed that her second floor exit was already out of reach. Her best chance of escape, then, would be if the number of them above ground was limited to the four or five already there. She bit her lip as she flipped open her phone, though she held no high hopes of being able to call for help outside since she was underground. Natsuki frowned at the signal strength indicator on her cell phone, which twitched between zero bars and one bar like it was tapping Morse code.

This kind of situation, of course, was what that was for.

A few seconds later, the next wave of soldiers walked by the janitor's closet, in much less of a hurry to head upstairs (I mean, one against six of them?). "Finally, we get to do-" one of them said before being smacked in the face with Natsuki's fist, instigating a hallway brawl. Natsuki knew it was an impossible fight, one unarmed intruder (damn metal detector at the store entrance) against maybe fifteen armed guards who would inevitably show up. But she had been caught before. She could take whatever interrogation techniques they could throw at her. She didn't know about Nao. The angry ones were the most vulnerable ones. But as she was finally subdued and given a taste of the linoleum floor, all she wanted at that moment was to give her chance to get out, hoping those twenty seconds she made them waste would be enough. Natsuki knew that there was a chance Nao would just ditch her once she escaped, but she was fine if it came to that. At least it would shake some sense into the girl.

Her hopes faded, though, as she was hauled up by her handcuffed wrists when she heard the next transmission over a radio:

"_Alarm responded. Intruder in custody._"

Natsuki was soon escorted away, the guards providing the escort. She was careful never to look back at her hiding place, specifically the garbage can inside, where underneath a couple of spent paper towels, a cell phone laid. It dialed a number, but no answer came forth due to poor signal. "_I'm sorry; your call cannot be completed as dialed._" The phone hung up, waited, and dialed again. "_I'm sorry; your call cannot be completed as dialed._" The phone hung up, waited, and dialed again.

"_I'm sorry; your call cannot be completed as dialed._"

The phone hung up, waited, and dialed again.

* * *

"Aaah!" Alyssa rushed into the room when she saw the cascade of error messages that had propagated the screen. All thoughts about who that stranger was and what she was doing down there were mentally pushed aside as she physically pushed aside empty boxes (and stumbled over a not-so-empty one) to get to Miyu. "Miyu! Are you all right?!" Miyu's body made no response. Alyssa frantically searched around the room before grabbing a dry rag and began cleaning up as much of the spilled soda as she could. "Miyu! Oh my God, I'm sorry! Please, say something!"

Suddenly, Alyssa saw Miyu's head twitch, and her fingers began to move. That was enough for Alyssa, as she ran up to hug Miyu. "Miyu! You're all right!" Alyssa's joy was short-lived, though, when seconds passed and Miyu made no sound save for a soft groan. Relief turned into confusion. Miyu never made that sound, ever. At the very least Miyu would have said that she was all right and tell her not to worry. It only grew more confusing for Alyssa when she turned up to see Miyu, who had a very confused look on her face and was looking at her fingers. If it was a normal human being, that expression would have already merited inquiring what was wrong, but consider that this was Miyu, who was stoic even after getting the new body, something was very wrong. Even if Miyu had become more expressive in her emotions thanks to the upgrades, she would have been expressing relief at seeing her…wouldn't she?

"Miyu?" Alyssa asked again, much concern in her voice. "Is everything OK?"

"**W-what's going on…"** Now Miyu was speaking English. While that in itself wasn't strange (she was built in America), she only ever spoke to Alyssa in English when she wanted to say something privately in the company of others, preferring Japanese for normal conversation. But it was what she said next that told Alyssa something was definitely wrong. After blinking a couple of times and noticing Alyssa hugging her stomach, she said, **"Can I…help you?"**

"Miyu? Don't you recognize me?"

"**I, um…I don't understand what you're saying…"**

_Maybe her Japanese language module got fried_, Alyssa thought. She switched to English. **"Miyu? It's me, Alyssa. You know, your…"** Her speech faded when she saw a lack of recognition in Miyu's face.

Miyu looked her with a questioning look. **"Who's Miyu?" **

Alyssa barely had time to register her answer and what it meant before Miyu suddenly whipped her head around the room, looking around. **"Where am I?" **She held up her arm high and noticed the wires coming out of it. "**What's going on?!"** she said in alarm. **"This…this isn't my voice."**

"**Miyu? Are you OK?"** Alyssa stepped back, not comfortable where this was going. Miyu _never_ had that kind of panicked look on her face. Ever. And she never would start tearing away at the wires connecting her to the computer so forcefully. **"Miyu! Calm down! It's OK!"** But Alyssa's pleas did not stop Miyu from breaking away and begin to scramble around the room like a startled deer. Alyssa feared the worst: did her memory get corrupted?

"Alyssa-chan! Miyu-san! What's going on?!" Alyssa turned to see Sister Yukariko in the doorway to the room.

"**Where am I?!"** Miyu demanded as she backed into a corner.

"Alyssa-chan! What's wrong with Miyu-san?" the Sister asked.

"I don't know!" she replied.

"Miyu-san, is everything OK?"

"She doesn't understand Japanese, Sister. I think her system's been corrupted." Alyssa pointed to the fallen soda bottle to her right.

"**What's going on?! What are you two talking about?"** Miyu pointed a finger towards the two of them.

"**Miyu, please…"**

"**Who is this Miyu person?!"**

"**It's you!"**

"**No, it's not! My name is –"** "Miyu" cut her rant short when she noticed a bathroom mirror leaning against the wall. Specifically, she saw her opened chest, revealing circuitry, pneumatics, and other things that definitely do not belong in a human body. A moment of silence passed.

Then "Miyu" screamed in utter terror.

* * *

"_Apparently that soda caused something to malfunction while Alyssa-chan was performing upgrade work._"

"Ah, I see. And that is how she has become crazy?"

"_I suppose you could put it that way, though she seems more scared than insane."_

"Where is Alyssa-san?"

"_She is out looking for her."_

"I will get help. Please stay there while I go get Tokiha-san and others, in case she returns."

"_All right._" Fumi hung up and swiftly grabbed her address book and cellular phone. She hurried out of the office, eager to organize a search party before more people than necessary learn about Miyu's true nature. She began dialing on her phone. "Tokiha-san? Yes, this is Himeno…"

Not ten seconds after Fumi walked out of the Director's Mansion and towards her car, the phone in her office rang.

* * *

_Once again, reviews are most certainly appreciated._

_Notes:_

_* Stability/Instability Paradox: Nuclear weapons make direct conflict between superpowers less likely but smaller indirect ones more likely. (i.e., no direct war between US and Soviet Union, but many smaller ones in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.)  
* Special Order 191: US Civil War - Robert E. Lee's lost order which gave George McClellan a big intelligence boost and led to the Battle of Antietam.  
* JN-25: Japanese code in WW2 which was broken by US prior to the Battle of Midway and enabled US to inflict crippling casualties on Japanese Navy.  
* Vasiliy Arkhipov: Soviet naval officer who persuaded submarine captain not to use a nuclear torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis when it was being forced to surface by the US Navy._

_Apologies if the history is a little excessive in this chapter._


End file.
